Neverland
by Rodgie-xx
Summary: Smytheberry & Klaine! The people you walk the path of life with can very well determine your future. This is a fact Kurt Hummel is only just discovering. When an unlikely duo along with the rest of their rag tag bunch, drag him away to Neverland, Kurt finds that his dreams aren't as lost as they seem. Welcome to a world where boys never have to grow up! AU, Formerly Childhood Games
1. A Beginning

_My name is Kurt Elizabeth Hummel. _

_Before I delve it to the tale I am about to reveal, I should tell you a little about myself first._

_At this moment I am 24, living in an apartment in New York City, of all places, working a full time job that I could have only dreamed of when I first entered McKinley. I have an amazing fiancé who I share said apartment. Did I forget to mention that the rest of my colleagues, not that I really call them colleagues in our line of work, whom I've known since my junior year of High School (yes, we work together now too) share the same floor as I do? The chaos and daily explosions have become something I don't think I could live without. Life couldn't be more perfect. _

_But you probably don't want all of these details just yet, all will be revealed in time. _

_I came from the small town of Lima, Ohio where the people are as ignorant and stubborn as rocks and the town is as boring as watching grass grow (Literally). We have a population of about 2,000 and are surrounded by miles and miles of cattle pastures. So… it's pretty isolated there. _

_Lima, itself, is divided into two social classes, the normal class for people like me and my dad and then there was the Upper East Side, the rich patrons – lawyers and doctors, that kind of thing you know. Most of the time these two classes never interacted, or even came to understand the other; there was no feud or standoff occurring between the two groups of people by any means; in fact it was all very harmonious… there was just no reason to interact with each other. The kids there all went to more prestigious boarding schools around the state and the adults worked long hours. When I grew up all of the teenage population was shoved into the hell hole known as William McKinely High School and the adults worked boring jobs with little passion. But sometimes there were exceptions. _

_And that, dear curious readers, is where this story begins. _

_High school is the worst, prejudice and hate runs free for all who do not fit into a certain social standing. The constant weather forecast there is constant showers of coloured ice, a particular favourite to the ruling jocks in the school. Outcasts like myself would seek shelter where ever we could, avoiding the more powerful like the plague to spare ourselves – not that I found it ever worked; the only openly gay kid in all of Lima was target number one._

_Glee helped a little, I know it makes me even more unpopular than before, but at least, at the end of the day, there's someone there to help me clean off after a slushie or make sure I'm okay after a particularly strong shove. _

_But looking back on these memories I realise now that we were never a family, or even real friends. We saw what we wanted from each other, a warm body and a singing voice that would keep the club protected. I never realised how wrong all that had been, all the drama, the using of each other and then the backstabbing if such a moment arose, until I had found a family based on respect for each other, who loved each other for their whole selves._

_Then there was her… the very reason I'm writing this tale for you, dear reader. Never have I had a strong connection to my saviour in this tale, in fact for the most part of my life I've barely ever tolerated her obnoxious personality and disturbing clothing choices. What I never knew, or would have accepted some time before this tale truly begins is that I could never have asked for a better friend… sister… or hero. Because she is all of those things to me now. She saved me from making the most disastrous decision of my life; picked me up when everyone I thought cared about me left for better opportunities and protected me from my own family, opening her own to me instead. She listened to my problems when I thought no one could hear, she looked past my appearance to see the real me when I thought everyone was blind. And I can't thank her enough. _

_Lima is a small town with very little to do, making it a dull and unexciting place. However, if you know where to look your life might just change forever. Not that I'm complaining. Through my adventures I attained my dreams, the best family I could ever ask for and my soul mate._

_This is the story f how my life was changed for the better after a certain loud brunette and her merry band of Lost Boys pulled me away to a place we like to call Neverland!_


	2. Childhood Memories

**Hi there!**

**This is the opening to the main story which will start during season 2.**

**I want to set a few things straight before I begin,**

**It is most definitely AU, and I need to outline a few events that have or haven't happened in the show.**

**This will be set around Never Been Kissed; however I want to move Furt forward (or at least the wedding and the death threat to before episode 6).**

**Puck and Finn became 'best' friends during freshman year. They didn't know each other previously.**

**Baby gate happened**

**The Karofsky kiss happened before Kurt met Blaine (between Duets and The RHGS). But Kurt hasn't mentioned or told anyone about it. IT WENT EXACTLY THE SAME WAS AS IT DID IN THE SHOW, just without Blaine's influence.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or its characters. So enjoy. I'll try not to make ALL of the AN's extremely long.**

* * *

><p>Lima is a small town. Everyone felt little. The houses were small and nothing exciting ever happened there. The Upper East Side of Lima was even smaller. But everything felt so big there. Big houses. Big gates. Big people.<p>

So when the only people a small girl can play with are four boys, then of course she was going to play with them.

* * *

><p>It was a sunny day at the park. Generally the playground was deserted, for a lack of better word. It almost seemed like there was a shortage of children in the Upper East Side, but there was. Most of the last generation of children had grown up and moved on with their lives.<p>

There was a little girl, about the age of five, swinging slowly on one of the lowered leather swings watching four little boys kick around a shiny soccer ball. Her red coat swallowed her tiny frame, but she was adamant that she had to match her coat with the red beret on her head. She kicked her legs back and forth, staring wistfully at the boys, tiny fingers curled around the chain tightly.

How she wanted to play with them.

Her daddies watched her from where they lay on a red and black picnic blanket across the field, reading books in the cool shade, peeking over the edges to watch their only daughter swing by herself. Rachel Berry had never really had many other people to play with at the park. There were never any really nice little girls there to play with her. They were all at the other park on the other side of town and it was too far to go, according to her daddies. The ones that did come to the park sometimes weren't very nice at all; they pushed her over or called her mean names.

And then there was one day when one of the boys playing soccer yelled at a mean little boy who pushed her over and made her cry. The shortest one, if she recalled, came over and made the mean little boy leave her alone, then her helped her up and went back to his ball. They never really talked or played together, but she always smiled at them and they always smiled back at her.

So she swang. By herself. Watching four little boys kick their ball. A tear rolled down her cheek.

She was so lonely.

* * *

><p>The boys – one with dark skin, one of an oriental decent, one with very definite Spanish features and a curly headed boy – chased after each other, attempting to kick the ball through make shift tree goals.<p>

The smallest of the four, the curly headed boy, tripped over one of the other boy's legs, sending him sprawling across the grass. His companions stopped their chase to laugh at him, amused by their friend's down fall.

"Wes!" The small boy cried in anguish, patting the grass off of his torn up jeans and straightening his bow tie. "What did you do that for?"

The oriental boy, Wes, snickered, "I dunno, Blaine."

Blaine glared at his friend and then his two other companions as they dropped to the ground in hysterics, because of course, tripping was hilarious to five year old boys. "Let's just finish our game," Blaine put his hands on his hips.

Wes looked at his friends, his gaze resting on the dark skinned boy. "David, do you want to keep beating Blainers and Thaddy?"

David grinned, "Let's go."

"Who says you're winning?" whined Thad, the Spanish boy.

"Because I'm keeping score," Wes replied bluntly. "And I say we're winning. We have 3 points," he held up four fingers, "and you have 2."

"Nu uh."

"Yeah."

"Nah."

"Yeah."

"Nah."

"Yeah."

"Nah."

"Nah."

"Yeah… Damn it!"

"Ha! I win!"

David and Blaine sighed and sat down in the grass, watching as their two friends bickered endlessly. Blaine leant back and closed his eyes, enjoying the wind through his curls. David, on the other hand, was twirling strands of grass into a complicated knot absentmindedly. Blaine sighed deeply, exhaling though his nose. Why did they always have to fight? He knew they didn't really mean it, but they never got to finish their games.

Blaine was brought out of his thoughts when a female voice cut off the two bickering boys. A girl, smaller than Blaine, with long brown hair tied into a low pony tail and red rimmed brown eyes, was standing just in front of them. She looked familiar to him… she was the girl that mean boy Anthony kept picking on.

"Um... but he's right," the girl pointed at Thad. "He's on 3 points and you're only on 2."

Thad and Wes stared at her in shock, their jaws hanging agape. David smiled at her and stood up, towering over her small frame. "Who are you?" he asked, tilting his head.

The girl smiled up at him with a toothy grin. "My name is Rachel Berry."

"Hi Rachel Berry! My name's David and that's Blaine, Thad and Wes." David pointed at his friends, tilting his head to the side. "Wes and Thad like to fight a lot, but it's okay because me and Blaine are still their friends. We love them lots."

After studying the girl, Thad smiled curiously at the girl, putting his chubby hand on her petite shoulder. "Have you been crying?"

Rachel turned her face away from them, hurriedly wiping her eyes and rubbing her nose. "N-No," she stammered.

"Why were you crying?" Blaine asked inquisitively. He didn't like it when people cried; they should smile all the time, like he tried to do. "Is it because you're all alone? We always see you sitting by yourself. You should've come over to play with us."

Rachel looked at him, wide eyed, but nodded her head slowly. "Yes," she whispered. "No one is here to play with me and I thought you'd be like Anthony."

Blaine shook his head slowly and his smile brightened. "Anthony's mean. My mommy told me to never be mean to other people, especially girls, because they're small and nice and stuff."

Wes grinned. "Yeah, we'll play with you!"

"Right!" David agreed, putting his arm around Rachel's shoulder. "You can be our new best friend!"

"R-rea-really?" Rachel sniffed.

Blaine laughed at her, "Yes!"

"It will be fun." Thad agreed, passing her the soccer ball. "Do you know how to play?"

When Rachel didn't answer, the four boys began to watch her as she studied the ball. Her eyes moving from the ball to them and then back again. Slowly she started to smile. Dropping the ball she kicked it as far as she could, chasing after it with the boys in close pursuit, all laughing happily.

Rachel felt happy, because, for the first time ever, she had friends to play with.

* * *

><p>Though the Upper East Side community was small, the Jewish population in Lima was even smaller. Most people belonged to the Christian churches or just didn't go all together. Everyone in the Jewish community was very close.<p>

Rachel, gripping both of her fathers' hands, walked out of the synagogue in her pretty navy blue dress and with a black ribbon tied in her hair. The small courtyard out the front of the building was full of people talking after the service.

Her fathers' directed her over to an unfamiliar women and an unfamiliar little boy. He looked about the same age as Rachel; she was six now and was small with a thin frame. He looked like he'd snap if a gust of wind blew him too hard. He was wearing a worn T-shirt and a pair of brown pants that Rachel thought matched his dark hair and dark eyes. He was idly kicking a stone with his foot while his mother talked to the Rabbi. He looked up when Rachel and her fathers approached.

Rachel smiled at him. He stared back.

Her daddies smiled at the boy's mother and shook her hand. "Welcome to Lima," her black father said brightly. He was always the more outgoing of the two, warmly greeting anyone new to the community and making sure they found somewhere to fit in. "I'm Leroy Berry this is my husband Hiram and our daughter Rachel. Welcome to the community."

The woman, surprised by their friendliness, returned their handshake and smiled brightly. "Oh, hello! It's lovely to meet you. I'm Deborah Puckerman, but please call me Debbie. This is my son Noah. We just moved from Columbus."

"Well, it's a small community," Hiram, Rachel's smaller white father, smiled. "You'll get to know everyone pretty quickly. Rachel, would you like to go take Noah and play for a little while? I'd like to talk to Debbie for a moment."

Rachel smiled and grabbed Noah's hand, much to his shock. "Come on, Noah, I know this really cool place." She tugged him across the clearing and towards a really big tree she usually went to after temple. She pointed to the lowest branch that was flatter than the others. "We have to climb up there."

The boy grunted but followed, straightening the wire framed glasses resting on his nose. "What's so cool about a dumb tree, anyway?"

Rachel grinned at him, but didn't say anything. Rather, she stuck two fingers into her mouth and whistled, something she'd become very good at in the past year. Four heads popped up from a nearby bush, twigs lodged in the boys' hair and mud streaked across their cheeks. Rachel turned back to Noah, "It's not the tree," she smiled and looked at her friends from above. "It's them."

Noah looked at the new boys. He eyed them warily. Wes saw him first. "Who's that Rachie?"

Rachel swung her legs back and forth. "This is Noah. He's from Columbus and just moved here."

Thad smiled and sat next to the girl, resting his head on her shoulder. Rachel hugged his torso tightly, winding her small arms around his chest. "Hi there!"

Noah looked back, slightly taken back by the four boys outgoing personalities. He watched as a curly haired kid bounced up and down next to Rachel, handing her a lollipop. Then the boy looked at him and out stretched his hand. "Do you want one?" Noah looked at him and then the candy, smiling. He nodded his head and took the offered treat, putting it in his mouth. Blaine grinned brightly, sucking his own grape lollipop, and flashing a toothy, dye stained smile.

"Thank you," he said with his mouth full; his mother always told him to say please and thank you – it was manners after all. Rachel looked at him in disgust and the boys laughed.

"You should come and play with us sometimes," David said, nodding his head in agreement with himself.

There were three exclamations of agreement. Noah smiled at them all and nodded. Maybe they would be best friends, he thought. Remembering how most of the other boys wouldn't play with him because he was too little before he moved.

"You know," Blaine whispered, leaning in to peer at Noah's face. It was beginning to scare him with how close the other boy was leaning in. But Blaine just smiled as if Noah wasn't uncomfortable at all. "You look like Harry Potter. My mum is reading me the first book. It's my favourite book ever."

"I've never read it," Noah admitted, ducking his head with a shallow smile.

Blaine and the other boys gasped but slyly grinned, a look passing between them, an unspoken agreement. Wes turned to Noah, patting him dutifully on the head, "We'll have to let you read them with us. Maybe you could even see the movie with us; we've watched it hundreds of times ever since Blaine got the video for his birthday!"

Noah's shy smile grew more confident. "Okay," he said meekly.

That was how the four friends adopted Noah into their little group.

* * *

><p>The years ticked by slowly, and the group of six spent every waking moment they could together. Eventually, traditions like the weekly Sunday dinner, combined holidays or vacations and irrelevant trivial things developed. As their children's bonds grew, so did those of the parents. The Berry, Puckerman, Anderson, Montgomery, Sullivan and Harwood families became one big clan, supporting each other in any way needed.<p>

The day James Puckerman left was one of the worst in the "clan's" history. James had always been a bit of an antisocial man, opting to boycott such gatherings for the closest bar he could find. Debbie could feel him getting more and more restless. Ari had only been in the world for two months when James decided that he'd had enough, packed up his belongings and walked out the door.

The day had started just like any other; the boys and Rachel were sprawled across the various couches in the Puckerman living room, watching the television as Aladdin found the giant cave of treasure. From the back of the house they could faintly hear Ari crying and muffled voices that were steadily rising.

The friends knew what would happen next. Debbie would put Ari in her crib, or hand her to Noah, with the beginning of a bruise or cut forming on her face, before disappearing into her room to cry. It broke their hearts, Noah's especially because for a long time he looked up to his dad. He was his role model, until the man found more interest in a bottle of alcohol than his own family.

Still… today was different. While they still heard the tell-tale noises of James' fist colliding with Debbie's face and her muffled sobs, there was also loud shuffling and the hasty noises of a zip being closed.

"Daddy?" Noah asked, tugging on the man's shirt curiously as he stomped pointedly towards the door - red faced and fuming no less - looking from his face to the duffle bag in his hand. "Where are you going?"

"Away," James snapped, not making eye contact with his son.

Noah tilted his head and frowned, his brow creasing in confusion, "But what about me and Mom and Ari?"

James frowned and gripped the boy's shoulder, yanking him away. "None of you are my concern anymore, so go back and play with your little friends."

"What does that mean?"

"That you're all worthless and I'm getting out before you bring me down with you! You'll never grow up to be anything useful. You, for example, are too scrawny and pathetic; it's not like you can fight or stand up for yourself. Enjoy your life kid, because from now on, I'm out of here."

"I swear," Noah growled darkly, his eyes narrowed and chest tall, as the pieces finally began to click inside his young mind. "If you ever show your face around here again…"

"You'll what?" James chuckled harshly, glaring down at his eight year old son. He could tell that his friends had paused the movie and were now watching as Noah finally stood up to his father. He could also see that the Montgomery and Sullivan kids were itching, as if they were also itching to jump up and yell at him, but Rachel, Blaine and Thad held them back. Noah had to do this on his own. "You're still a pipsqueak, kid."

"But I won't be for forever. I'm going to become bigger and stronger than you ever were to protect Mom and Ari from men like you. I'll train every day so that if I ever see you again I'll punch you square in the nose. I know you hit her, because she cries whenever she doesn't think I'm listening and that makes me want to cry, but I know she'd want me to be strong for her. I'll be a better man than you ever were, because I know what's right and wrong, unlike you. You shouldn't hit girls, 'specially not Mommy - you shouldn't hit her like you do and I'm… I'm glad you're leaving. I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"

"Why you little punk…" James hissed, but Noah had already turned away, shuffling back into the living room with a tear dripping down his face. Rachel opened her arms and enveloped Noah in a wordless hug while he sobbed violently, just as James threw open the door and stormed out. The others knew that it'd be a long time before either Noah or Debbie got over the shock and hurt, but their families would be there right beside them helping and supporting them, cooking them meals or even just being there to keep them company.

"Goodbye, Daddy," Noah whispered hoarsely. "I'll miss you."

* * *

><p>Over the years they'd play together in the park, with their soccer ball. But when it was time for high school four of the boys headed off to a private boys school nearby, whereas Rachel and Noah went to one of the public schools in the area.<p>

Noah couldn't afford the private school the other four were going too, and Rachel, despite her daddies' money, decided she wanted to be with Noah if she couldn't go to school with her other friends. Both headed to William McKinely.


	3. New Friends Old Friends

**If you're wondering, No, (as it will appear quite a few times) when not used in a Yes/No context is Noah's nickname. No – Noah, get it?**

**This is set in Never Been Kissed**

**PUCK DID NOT GO TO JUVIE!**

**Rachel and Jesse never met like they did in Season 1! He is a year younger and not from VA! They did not date**

**Some of the lines in italics and boarded by a " " are Kurt as the narrator speaking; not the Kurt that is being described. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own glee or some of the dialogue towards the centre of the chapter. All Klaine fans should know what I mean :) I only own characters that you don't recognise from the show. **

**You want hear the song at the end? Go listen to One Love and replace Artie with Blaine!**

**I want to thank my amazing Beta! You're awesome! x**

**Warning, for a tiny bit of swearing, not really though **

**Enjoy**

* * *

><p>"Girl's vs. Boy's. You have a week to practise you're mash ups."<p>

Rachel groaned at Mr Schue's latest feel good assignment, requiring her to spend more time than necessary with people who didn't really care what happened, as long as they could pull together something out of thin air at the last minute. Rachel put on her show face and watched Puck as he sauntered out of the choir room, frowning slightly.

They were supposed to go to Dalton after school today. The Warblers were throwing an impromptu concert and Rachel demanded that they be there.

The girls gathered in the back of the choir room in a make shift chair circle, talking animatedly about the school's latest gossip. Brittany was braiding Santana's hair and Quinn, Mercedes and Tina were sitting next to them. Rachel was the only one not in the circle, sitting off to the side with her phone in her hand.

The longer they spend gossiping, the more time the boys had more of a chance of winning, and Puck would never let her live it down if he won. She and Thad already owed him and Blaine fifty bucks from their last bet. Damn Wes. Why couldn't he have gone faster when he raced David through the Dalton corridors on rollerblades?

Her pocket vibrated about half an hour into the practise session. Giving up on listening to Santana's bitchy comments she fished her phone out. She had one new message.

**Hobbit: **I'm freaking out! I can't find my tie? Do you know where Noah put it?

Rachel laughed loudly at her curly headed friend's text, the New Direction girls looking at her curiously. Rachel ignored them and tapped out a reply.

**Rachel:** No idea, sorry. Try turning your fan on. Noah likes to hide things up there when you're not looking. You're too short to reach it :)

**Hobbit:** Don't insult my hobbitness, midget.

She waited a few moments, drowning out the gossip session. Apparently one of the footballers slept with his best friend's brother's girlfriend who was cheating on him for someone on the hockey team while his girlfriend was in Spain, but she was also secretly dating a baseball player who, despite his douchebag type of personality, was ultimately banging Santana.

**Rachel:** Did you do it?

**Hobbit:** … what did he put up there? I'm covered in something white and sticky, and no nothing sexual like that. I smell gross... and I think its moving x.x

Rachel laughed again, this time trying to be a little quieter. Shaking her head at how well the boy actually did know how her mind worked. She typed a reply.

**Rachel:** Do you remember when you thought your yoghurt cup went missing last week and we told you Thad ate it. Well, you found it.

**Hobbit: **But that was strawberry yogurt... why is it white?

**Rachel:** Yogurt must turn white when it goes mouldy. Really I have no idea; technically it's your fault for believing us.

**Hobbit: **I'm going to kill him! Wes, David and Thad apparently think it's hilarious. :(

Rachel was halfway through her reply when she received another text.

**Wes:** Rachie, please stop distracting Blainers, we need him to practise. You're still coming right?

**Rachel:** Of course I'll be there. Fine, I'll go back to concentrating on glee club. See you in a few hours Wessy. xx

Rachel turned her attention back to the group, who hadn't really noticed she wasn't paying attention. Sighing and resigning herself to listen quietly, any move to get them to do something could and would be seen as an act of yet more Rachel Berry selfishness.

* * *

><p>The boys weren't doing much better. Puck was either drawing dirty pictures idly on a scrap piece of paper or texting Rachel under the desk while Hummel went on about feathers or some lame shit. He really couldn't be bothered right now. It looked like the other guys weren't all that interested either.<p>

**Rachie: **Anything productive happening at your end?

**No: **What did you expect?

**Rachie: **Maybe a little more enthusiasm might be nice… do you think Dalton would let us borrow their science labs to extract some of Blaine's energy and infuse it with the Nude Erections?

Puck snorted loudly at Rachel's comment, ducking his head from the other guy's curious staring. David had pointed out the unfortunate naming flaw when the club had first started and the pair had taken to the name ever since.

**No: **I'm pretty sure human medical testing is illegal… or at least needs a permit.

**Rachie: **We won't know until we try?

**No: **Have I ever told you that you're incredibly sadistic… or highly psychopathic?

**Rachie: **Awwww, I love you too Noah (Unlike the dapper Hobbit at the moment) xoxoxox

Rolling his eyes, Puck tapped out a reply to one of his best friends. Finn was beginning to eye him suspiciously after he snorted just a little too loudly early. The giant was suspicious that he was in fact sexting again during rehearsals. (To be honest he'd never really done it in the first place, except for the mock dirty messages he sent to Wes or David. The pair was coincidently named Wonder Woman and Cat Woman respectively on his contact list after an embarrassing drunken night. Girls like Quinn who'd once read the messages took them to be cougars or hookers.)

**No: **That wasn't a compliment, Ray Ray…

**No: **Are you saying Blainers found his yoghurt?

**Rachie: **But of course. He was looking for his tie… Apparently the yoghurt turned white and sticky. I could make sooo many jokes about that mental image right now. He's pretty pissed at you right now. So prepare for a chance of a lifetime. Be prepared for sensational news. A shining new era, is tiptoeing nearer. And where do we feature? Be prepared!

Halting his conversation with Rachel, Puck took the opportunity to observe his team mates as they grew more and more restless. The newest member of the New Directions was literally falling asleep on one of the desks in the Spanish Room; so Puck wrote something on a different scrap, scrunched it up and tossed it at his head.

Sam looked around before glaring at Puck who smirked back, making an _open it_ gesture with his hands. Sam looked at Puck and then down at the paper and back again. Shrugging he flattened it out, seeing the message written inside.

_This blows, man. Shouldn't we be like, spying on the competition or something. We have some old people, just pat 'em hard enough on the rear and you should shatter a bone or two, and some preppy guy's school._

Sam considered, and then looked up a Kurt, actually raising his hand. Puck snorted in amusement, it was something he could see Blaine or Thad doing. Kurt stopped his rant on which feathers would and wouldn't clash with the boys' skin tone or something... blue would work the best... not that Puck actually cared about that kind of stuff. But when you grow up with Rachel and strangely enough, Blaine, you learn a few things. Not that anyone besides his best friends knew that.

"Do you have to go to the bathroom, Sam?" Kurt said impatiently, tapping his foot. "You don't have to ask, I'm not a teacher. Just go."

**Rachie: **You still there, Noah?

**No: **I am ;) Just implementing my, distract Kurt long enough and sneak out and run for my truck plan. Did you seriously quote the Lion King before Rach?

Sure enough, the blonde took the bait. Sam shook his head, "Shouldn't we like, go spy on our competition. We're going to beat the girls anyway. Why not do something productive?"

"That would be cheating." Kurt scowled deeply.

Finn shrugged. "We did it last year with Vocal Adrenaline. Why not do it again?"

"We don't even know who our competition is." Artie rolled over.

Puck rolled his eyes. "Some old people and an all boy's school ,they're called the Garglers or something."

"The Warblers." Mike corrected. Fuck, how did the dude know... oh wait. He was there when we broke into Schue's office for the competition list. They couldn't find out about his friendship with the Warblers because the resulting blowout would be bigger than baby gate of 2010. For once fraternity pride didn't dominate older friendships. Just because he was a McKinely Titan and member of the New Directions didn't mean he had to stop being friends with the people he's known all his life. The guys at McKinely would only ever know Puck. They would never know Noah, not like the Warblers did. They would never see the boy with glasses and an obsession with all things science fiction. The Titan's saw him as something they wanted to see, not as the someone he was, because if he was himself he would be out casted. It was all he could do to protect Rachel.

"Whatever, man." Puck shrugged. He dismissed the boys' argument over who they would send to Dalton as their spy. Apparently, he'd be too obvious, and not at all preppy enough – he'd stick out like a sore thumb- and while technically that was true, since basically everyone knew who he, and Rachel, were it wouldn't be counted as spying but they'd probably give him their set list anyway seeing as he and Rachel always helped put one together, however he wasn't about to betray his best friends after all.

Finn, in the rest of the guys opinions was much too tall to go, having the same problem as Puck. He had to refrain from laughing at the other guys' logic, some of those Warblers and the student body were even taller than the Jolly Glee Giant.

Artie was definitely out because of his wheel chair. There would be no way for him to go up and down the many stairs.

Mike had a family dinner to go to and couldn't go.

They could've sent Sam, but he'd probably blow it with one of his lame impersonations – again, Puck tried not to laugh because he imitates some of those impersonations at Dalton; there was an entire club dedicated to that kind of stuff (Puck included in said club) where a bunch of guys could all nerd out over sci fi movies, comic books or video games. Sam would, on second thought, fit in extremely well at Dalton.

That left Kurt, who reluctantly got the job. He was surprisingly okay with the whole idea after Mike mentioned something about the no bullying policy. It was something Puck could relate to, Dalton was a safe haven for many people – it was the biggest, most dysfunctional family on the planet, but it worked. Maybe it'd be good for the kid to see that not everyone was like the homophobes at McKinely (Not that Puck'd willingly admit that, yes, he did care for Kurt).

His phone vibrated again and Finn looking at him questioningly. Puck just sent him a trademark smirk and replied to the giant's ex-girlfriend.

**Rachie: **Maybe… You know I love the Lion it work? Please tell me it worked? I'm bored out of my brains in here. Seriously, if I hear one more story about a footballer cheating on his girlfriend I will rip someone's head off.

**No: **Easy there Simba, we need them for Sectionals, remember. And he did :) I'll see you outside in 10

**Rachie: **Ha ha, very funny, I see what you did there… I resent being called Simba, I'm much more of a Nala, I'm sure the others will agree seeing as I can pin any one of you guys to the ground ;). See you then, Noah xoxo

**No: **Whatever you say Simba.

With that he slipped the device into his pocket.

They could have asked Puck for the uniform to at least blend into the school, he had his uniform folded up in the back of his truck for him to change into that afternoon. More often than not, the pair would slip away from the drama filled halls of McKinely for the chaos filled ones at Dalton. Each other them had their own schedule, locker and uniform. Classes were better there, Puck actually attended them all. Yes. Even math. Teachers didn't care. They were used to the pair and had their names marked on the attendance records. In fact most of the faculty loved to have the pair around.

As they devised for Kurt to sneak in, listen to the Warblers and then relay the information back to them, Puck's pocket vibrated. Thinking it was Rachel again telling him to hurry up he picked it up. Not much to his surprise, however, it wasn't Rachel, but in fact a furious Blaine. Thank god for Rachel's somewhat musical warning earlier.

**B:** What the hell Noah! Week old Yoghurt? Really? Do you know how bad I smell?"

**Noah:** You turned the fan in your dorm room on, didn't you? I hope you had a nice shower.

**B:** Yeah, no I did not… because someone happened to put my tie up there as well.

**Noah: **Fucking hilarious.

**B**I'm going to kill you when you get here.

**Noah:** I'd like to see you try :P Now go back to your scowling Blainers. I'm sure Wes wants you to practise or something.

He never got a reply. Puck smirked. Looking up just as the other boys were dragging Kurt out of the Spanish room and towards his car. When Hummel was gone, surely they would get too distracted by something else and end up going home. Screw Schue if he thought he could keep him here when he had somewhere to be.

He wondered if he should text Wes or someone, warning them that Kurt was coming, but they'd seen him at a few of their competitions before. Dudes would be fine.

Puck leant back on his chair, waiting for all of the other guys to make their leave. Fortunately without Schue supervising them, because he was off with Miss P or something, teenage boys will quickly decide that they'd rather get out of school early instead of sticking around.

Though, Puck did have to wait for Rachel...

* * *

><p>Schue let the girls go not long after when the boys up and left. Rachel came sprinting out to his truck with her duffle bag slung over a shoulder, slid into the passenger seat and two hours later they pulled into the Dalton parking lot. Both had changed into their personal Dalton uniforms before their arrival to the school, smoothing down the creases of their blazers just as they jumped out of the rusty truck. The pair could easily pick out Kurt's Navigator sitting among the sea of pricey vehicles, but Rachel headed in the opposite direction, sprinting as fast as her legs would take her down the pavement so that she could throw herself at the hood of a car. "My baby! Barbra. I've missed you! Why did I let Noah convince me to leave you here all day? I'm so sorry! I'll never leave you again, I promise."<p>

"Rach... it's a car. You know it doesn't really have feelings, right?"

"You named your car Caroline, why can't I name mine?" She spread her arms out wide in an attempt to hug the silver porche, and stroking it lovingly, only to realise that it was, once again... filled with brightly coloured red and blue plastic balls to the point that they were spilling out over the rims of her windows and windshield.

"Not again," she growled, and opened the driver's side door to allow the balls to spill out onto the ground, bouncing as they hit the concrete. "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill Thad slow and painfully."

Puck snickered quietly, his face as impassive as possible. He'd keep the little fact that he helped collect the balls last night and carry them into one of the spare dorm rooms for easy access away from Rachel, or that it was in fact not Thad who organised the entire operation. The bitch was scary when she was mad. "Come on, babe. Let him sing first. Then you can kill him, you know how Wes gets with these things. It'll throw off the entire group's harmonies and something about replacements; it all just sounds like blah, blah, blah. I never really listen to his rants, but don't you dare tell him that." He slung an arm around her waist and directed her inside the building, drawing her attention away with a new topic.

Occasionally the pair were stopped to talk to some of the Dalton boys they'd come to know quite well over the years, or stop at their set lockers to dump their bags before the performance. Some of the older boys asked for help on their homework, or their opinions on something they were discussing; while the newest to the school, the freshman, came over to just talk or ask advice on a girl they liked, etc.

Everyone loved Rachel Berry; she was practically worshiped where ever she went and lapped up every second of it, often using it to her advantage like the mastermind she was. And Puck did not exist at Dalton. He was merely a figure of imagination. Within the grand halls he was Noah, a smart, charismatic, nerdy young man who was friends with almost everyone there and wore his wire frame glasses. He felt comfortable to be his true self.

If only McKinely could allow them to be who they truly were. The school was like a cage, suppressing certain aspects of their personalities in order to survive the day to day life in the unofficial food chain.

Everyone was heading to the Senior Commons to watch them perform when Rachel spotted Blaine rush down the stairs clasping his brass pocket watch, a gift from his father on his sixteenth birthday and it meant a great deal to him. Just behind him came Kurt, his shaded eyes looking around him in awe and wonder. He was dressed in a black coat, sunglasses and a red tie. He'd definitely tried to recreate the uniform using items from his wardrobe, but his attempts were still rather poor. It was obvious that he was in fact not of the school. She stopped Puck with a hand, directing him to the scene and looked at him quizzically. Kurt reached out and tapped Blaine on the shoulder smiling cautiously. Blaine was shocked to see someone he knew was from New Directions that wasn't either of his friends in a horribly bad attempt at the uniform in the halls of Dalton. His hair had extra gel in it for the time being after spending half an hour washing out all of the mouldy yoghurt from his curls.

"Excuse me." He tapped a boy with gelled hair and hazel eyes on the shoulder. "Um... Hi. Can you tell me what's going on here? I'm... I'm new here."

"My name is Blaine," Blaine extended his hand for the boy to shake, smiling charmingly. He would play along for now. It wasn't like it could do much harm, because he saw something more hidden behind the boy's blue eyes – as if spying wasn't why he'd agreed to come to the school in the first place, there was something more buried beneath the surface of his mask, one Blaine could only see because of the snippets he'd been provided by his friends.

Puck chuckled loudly and turned to Rachel. "That was smile number 23," Puck commented, pulling a twenty dollar bill out of his pocket. This immediately attracted the attention of the boys moving around them, more specifically, the boys with a pin adorned with a little yellow bird clipped to their blazers, exactly the same ones that Rachel and Puck proudly wore. Each were pulling out various amounts of bills, handing them to Puck as a general tally. Rachel did not partake in this activity, and sighed, leaning into Puck's side. "I'll give it a seven out of ten. Nice effort though, man."

A other boys gathered around them were tilting their heads to look at Blaine, squinting and comparing their findings.

"You're joking, right, Noah? That was definitely smile number 17. Look at the way he's standing. He's leaning more to the right with his hand in a pocket, which clearly is not stated under 23." One of the boys, by the name of Chris, said, turning his head to the side with a sly grin. "Body language is included you know, you might have to check the manual again."

"I created that manual, Chris," Puck snippet, counting the bills in his hand with glee.

Chris shook his head and snatched for the money, his head of dark curls bobbing dangerously. "You're still wrong Noah, that's definitely not number 23. Can't you tell, or are you going blind?" He waved a hand in front of Puck's hazel eyes.

"Watch it, Anderson." The boy growled, slapping the hand away and running one of his own through his Mohawk.

Rachel groaned and put her face in her palm at the idiotic debate she was bearing witness too. She had quickly decided that these boys were either incredibly bored for the better part of the day or they were all clinically insane. Another boy, Gabriel or Gabe, on the other hand, shook his head and frowned, squinting a little to get a better look. "Gentlemen… gentleman, settle down. You're both wrong, that was definitely charming smile number 5." They all turned to observe Blaine, staring at him intently in a completely non stalkerish way.

"What the hell are you talking about? That's number 3!"

"You're all wrong, it's 6."

"I don't even know why we take Nick and Jeff seriously anymore; they always say the same thing."

"We do not!" Two indignant voices cried out amongst the chaos being created.

"No way! It can't be any of those, because its smile 14."

The boys were carefully watching Blaine interact with a boy none of them had ever seen before. Each with their bets on a different number, and their money added to the pool. Matt Hall, the talented beat boxing Warbler, grinned smuggled and collected his winnings from the almost twice daily betting ring that circulated the majority of the school's student body and faculty – including the Dean. _Which charming smile would Blaine use when he encountered with a teacher or guest? _It was almost certain someone on the ground floor was filming him so that it could be discussed and later dissected on the big screen in one of the computer labs, to double check that the winner of each pool was not cheating, in which case the money would be returned and distributed to the newly classed winner.

It had, in fact, been Blaine's smile number 11.

Kurt looked at the boy's hand for a moment before smiling. "Kurt." He paused and looked around, seeming to not notice the large group of ever growing boys at the bottom of the stairs. "Uh... So what exactly is going on?"

"The Warblers!" Blaine exclaimed cheerily, he on the other hand was not unaware of the group at the bottom of the stairs, watching them interact and bicker out of the corner of his eye.

Rachel buried her head deeper in her palm, muttering a string of curses that only she or Puck could hear or even understand. Could Blaine be any more of a puppy? If he had a tail it would be wagging constantly. Puck seemed to have the same thought and laughed when Rachel revealed her thoughts. Blaine continued, finally catching the pair out of the corner of his eye, he looked at them for a moment and smiled. They waved back at him. "Every now and then they throw an impromptu performance in the Senior Commons. Tends to shut the school down for a while."

Kurt looked sceptical, "So wait... the glee club here is kind of cool?"

Rachel frowned, looking at Puck through her fingers sceptically. "What is he doing here?" She whispered. Puck shrugged but grinned slyly. "Noah, this had better not be your attempt to spy on the Warblers."

Puck scoffed and looked away. "What? Why would I need to spy? We can just ask them. No. It was technically Sam's idea actually. They wouldn't let me go 'cause apparently I stick out like sore thumb." _It was so his idea._

Rachel laughed. "No offence, but you kind of do."

"So you believe me?"

Rachel shook her head, "Not even for a second."

Puck sighed and took her hand, moving out of the hall in the direction of the Senior Commons. However, as he came closer to the entrance they halted and Puck's voice dipped to only a whisper. "I may have given Sam a push in the right direction though," Rachel looked on disapprovingly and Puck held his hands up in defence, "I don't want to spy, but I figured maybe it would be good for him, you know. With everything that's been happening with his Dad, the glee club and Karofsky."

Rachel patted her friend on the head, smiling brightly. "Oh, Noah. I never knew you cared for Kurt. It's kind of sweet to see you care about someone else for a change."

"If you ever tell him I said any of that, I will personally destroy your musical CDs."

"My lips are sealed!" With that the pair slipped into the room, disappearing within the crowd of blazer clad boys who were buzzing with excitement for the up and coming performance.

Blaine smiled again, "The Warblers are like Rock stars." Kurt raised an eye brow and Blaine looked over his shoulder to see his friends had slipped away while he was talking to Kurt. When he was satisfied that the coast was clear, he grabbed Kurt's hand and smiled. "Come on, I know a short cut_." Or a way to hide Rachel and Puck_, he added mentally, grinning broadly in the direction the pair were heading.

Kurt looked shocked but allowed himself to be dragged towards the commons by the handsome young man holding his hand. This was what he was here for. This was it.

Rachel and Puck greeted everyone when they arrived, heading in different directions to sit beside some of the other juniors in the back of the room, where some boys were moving the furniture to make room for wooden benches had been dragged down the halls from the old store room for people to sit on. To maximise their space some students were sitting in the laps of others and so on until there were numerous piles of limbs stacked on top of each other. Puck slid into a positioned next to a tall boy with messy, medium length brown hair and was wearing his red Dalton jumper instead of the blazer, throwing a fist in the air. Puck smirked at him, bumping his fist in greeting and murmuring something in his ear before joining in with the hooting and cat calls.

However, Rachel had moved further into the room, sliding over various laps of boys that were much too happy to see her, sitting herself next to a boy with an arrangement of colourful badges pinned to his blazer and a boy sporting a dark brown head of curls and misty blue eyes, who grinned broadly at her. The blonde was tall, his legs crossed at the ankle and extended under the bench in front of him, while his ear length sandy blonde hair fell into friendly clear blue eyes. "Hi Cody," Rachel smiled brightly, tapping the boy on the shoulder. "Did you miss me?"

The boy, Cody, smiled warmly. "You just can't stay away can you, Rachel?"

"What can I say? Dalton is where my heart lies," Rachel mock swooned, placing her hands over her heart in a rather over exaggerated manor and grinned.

The other boy tapped Rachel on the shoulder in offence. He too was tall, lean and chiselled; his Blazer thrown over his shoulder and tie loose around his neck. "Forget me all ready, Rach?" He asked, mock scorn tinging his voice, "That hurts, you know. I thought we had something really special… but I guess I mean nothing to you."

Rachel's grin turned wicked as she eyed the darker haired boy critically, "I'm sorry… do I know you?"

The boy pouted, his lip quivering in an incredibly convincing puppy dog stare. "Mean," he breathed, folding his arms.

Rachel gave in after a minute, pursing her lips dramatically, "I'm sorry Jesse; of course I haven't forgotten you. Who else would stay up with me until three in the morning discussing all things musical theatre? I mean, as much as I love Blaine he just doesn't cut it as my Broadway loving gay best friend, that position is all yours."

"Damn straight," he proclaimed, hugging the giggling girl to his chest.

The two boys were both in the year above Rachel, being seniors, but managed to acts as young as the rest of the younger school when they weren't forced to study. Despite their differences in characteristics (Cody was hard working, punctual, organised and very focused on his future where he aimed to become get accepted into medical school while Jesse was more laid back, confident, sarcastic and enjoyed music; singing lead in his Dalton based band, _Rebellion_) they boys shared an incredibly close bond and even shared a dorm room together, they were best friends and brothers in every aspect other than blood. They were Rachel's first friends outside the tight nit group that was the Warblers, though they both held honorary titles within the group, when they met on her very first trip to Dalton three years ago after an unfortunate accident involving a skateboard, two buckets of green jelly, an exercise ball and the stairs. She can often be found sleeping in their room or sneaking in at the crack of dawn to chat to the two early risers before the rest of the Warblers woke up on the days she and Puck slept over.

"So how's the band, Jesse?" Rachel asked, sitting up a little straighter. She enjoyed hearing about the progress that the locally known band was making, and being their number one fan she liked to keep up with what they were doing. "I know I haven't seen you are practise for a while and that usually means you guys are in rehearsal mode. Brit is missing you."

Besides being good friends, Jesse was also Rachel's usual dance partner at the local studio they attended. She had introduced him to the studio and had later taken to it like a ducks take to water; they, apart from one other couple, managed to successfully complete the advanced jumps and leaps because of the unwavering trust they had in each other.

* * *

><p>"<em>I don't know about this Rachel, I haven't danced since middle school. I'm probably not even good anymore." Jesse said sullenly as the small diva pulled him by the hand into the spacious dance studio building. As soon as he mentioned that he used to dance a few months after their meeting Rachel had been relentless in signing him up for her advanced dance class; he, however, had very little self confidence in his abilities. <em>

_It was then after three weeks after constant begging from his freshman friend did Jesse consent to the girls whims._

_The freshman had met Jesse and his roommate by accident on her first trip to the grand halls of Dalton Academy. The pair of sophomore had been walking to the cafeteria for lunch, complaining about the brutal calculus class they had just endured when, out of nowhere, a group of boys came flying out of nowhere on skateboards holding buckets of an unidentified green substance, narrowly missing them. What they hadn't seen, however, was the girl gripping to a large inflatable exercise ball as it bounced down the marble staircase heading towards them. She landed with a crash and in a heap on top of the two boys._

_And from that day on they had been close friends. _

_Rachel only huffed and squeezed his hand tighter; leading him passed a smiling receptionist in the lobby, down a brightly lit white hall and into an open hard wood dance room, the back wall lined with floor to ceiling mirrors. There were very few people in the room so early, Rachel wanted to introduce him to the dance instructor before her class, and the ones who were, were either stretching on the floor or chatting amongst themselves. _

_The instructor, on the other hand, was resting against one of the open windows just enjoying the morning sunlight as he sipped from his blue energy drink. He was a tall, well-muscled man with short dark hair, wearing only a loose pair of pants to leave his defined stomach exposed. Martin Padzlekic was passionate about his art; he believed that he was funny and was kind to his students but pushed them to be their best, many leaving his tutoring for esteemed dance companies or prestigious schools majoring in the art form. He originated from Denmark and had danced professionally for many years prior to his move to Ohio and his employment with the studio._

"_Martin," Rachel chirped, flouncing over to the forty year old man with a bright smile. The heads of other dancers turned to see what the loud girl wanted and in turned were curiously gazing at Jesse. Jesse shifted uncomfortable under their gaze, ducking his head._

_Martin turned and smiled at his vibrant student, putting down his drink in favour of devoting his attention to Rachel. "What can I help you with, Rachel?" He asked, tilting his head slightly. There was a very thick, European accent tinging his words but a certain joy to his voice._

"_That friend I was telling you about would like to audition for the class today," she replied, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement. She beckoned Jesse over. "Jesse, this is Martin, our instructor here. Martin, this is Jesse St James." _

_The audition… Right… Jesse almost forgot about that part. When Rachel told him about joining her dance class she had mentioned that in order to be accepted he would need to perform an audition piece for the class. Fortunately Rachel had been granted permission to perform a duet piece, calming his nerves only slightly. So for the last week and a half Rachel had been waking him up before 6am so that they could practise before school to perfect the routine. _

_Martin's eyes shifted from Rachel to Jesse, surprising his gaze didn't feel criticism or judgement as he had expected but instead only a mild curiosity and wonder. "Welcome, Jesse. Rachel talks very highly of you so it will be interesting to see what you two have come to show me today."_

_Jesse nodded mutely, fixing his impressive show face in place and smiling at Rachel, who only grinned back. "Can we do it now?" He asked tentatively, wanting to get the whole ordeal over and done with. _

_Martin's eyebrow raised; if he was surprised by Jesse's sudden request his face didn't show any trace of it, and nodded in response, waving a hand before moving to the front of the room, the other students now moving to crowd around him. Rachel looked pleased and began to set up the music that they would need for their routine. _

_Removing his thick coat Jesse stood in his start position, breathing deeply to reassure himself more than anything else. He could feel Rachel's presence leaning against his body and her warm breath dancing across the back of his neck; she was gripping his hand loosely, one leg hitched on his hip and head resting on his chest – she was completely embracing her role in the dance. The music started and the pair began to move fluidly, as one solid unit, to Jon McLaughlin's 'So Close'. They had choreographed a piece the resembled a mixed style of contemporary, ballet and ballroom. _

_When the pair had finished their routine the applause from the class was near deafening. All of the students were on their feet and clapping for them, grinning brightly and whispering amongst themselves rapidly. Martin had to hush them so he could comment the two dancers, who were clinging onto each other and breathing heavily, bright red in the faces. _

_Rachel hugged Jesse tightly, wishing she was stronger and taller so that she could swing him around like they did in all of those cheesy movies. "You were amazing, Jess. I told you, you could do it. Cody would be so proud! Heck, everyone should be so proud of you."_

"_I couldn't have done it without you, Rach." He said into her neck, panting but filled with pride for both himself and Rachel. If she hadn't been there with him, he would never have had the guts to go back to dancing after he stopped in middle school to persue his studies and later his band. _

"_That was wonderful," Martin clapped, breaking the little bubble the dancers had made for themselves. He walked over and threw his arms around the two, chuckling to himself. "I think from that performance Jesse will make a marvellous addition to our class; that is if you would like to join us."_

"_Say yes!" one of the dancers on the floor called, causing Jesse to duck his head. _

"_So what do you say, son? Would you like to join us?" Martin prompted. _

_Jesse needed only a few seconds and one very convincing puppy dog stare from Rachel to agree. "I'd like that a lot," he said, genuinely excited to be back on the dance floor. _

"_Very well," Martin grinned, releasing his grip on Jesse's shoulder. "We'll take a fifteen minute break and then officially begin the class; take some time to get a drink and stretch… Rachel, look after this one, you hear?"_

_Yes sir!" The girl grinned, grabbing his hand. "Jesse," Rachel said, leading him over to a group of two boys and one girl sitting by the windows stretching. "This is Michael, Matt and Brittany. They go to McKinely with me."_

_The blonde girl of the group looked up at Jesse with wide clear blue eyes, a bright smile gracing her lips. "You were really good," she exclaimed, clapping her hands together, "Much better than most of the other boys in this room. You didn't even step on Rachel's toes once, like most of them do to the girls."_

_The curly haired boy nodded his head slowly, choosing to take her comment as a compliment, smiling._

"_Yeah man," one of the boys nodded in agreement. He was dark skinned with dark eyes and a closely shaved head. He was well-muscled, the very definition of a dancer; dressed in a tight, sleeveless top and tight, but movable, sweat pants. "You're really good, and almost as good as Britt and Mike at pairs dancing."_

_The other boy, a tall, lithe, gangly Asian hummed in response, bent over in a leg stretch. "You could easily give us a run for our money as best duet. Some of those lifts were crazy insane, I'm surprised Rachel let you do them. She never lets any of the boys apart from maybe Matt and myself throw her around like that."_

"_I don't trust those other idiots," Rachel grumbled, pulling the newest addition to the class to the ground to stretch with them. "I just know they'll drop me like Roman did to Janice last month… I heard she's still wearing a cast and won't be able to dance like that again."_

_The other three sighed and sent withering glares to a blonde boy across the room; Jesse sat and stared, taking everything in. _

"_Alright class, line up, please," Came Martins authoritive tone, interrupting their discussion. All of the dancers, there was a considerable number more now than there had been when Jesse auditioned, scrambled to take their places around the room. Rachel smiled at her friend encouragingly and led him over to the floor alongside the other three dancers to begin that day's session. _

* * *

><p>"Tell Brit that I'm missing her too and hopefully I'll be back soon but it's really important that we get these extra rehearsals in. Make sure she and Mike aren't upstaging us again Princess," Jesse said, and Cody stifled a burp of laughter. "But all the guys have been really good. We actually have a paying gig coming up at one of the local night clubs, it'll be our first professional set and we couldn't be more excited! I expect you to be there, you have no choice; and if you don't come… Well, I know where you live and I'm not above risking kidnapping charges."<p>

"Like I would ever let them do that," Rachel giggled, "Naturally, you know I come to all of your gigs. I'm the one yelling the loudest."

"Please don't yell embarrassing things out while I'm on stage singing this time, Rach." Jesse sighed and Cody laughed, gripping onto the bottom of the rickety wooden bench to stop himself from falling over backwards.

"But you look so adorable when you're bright red in the face…" she grinned slyly, ignoring the glare Jesse was sending her. She leant over to Cody, pursing her lips to whisper in his ear, "…You know Cody. He never said anything about dressing up to embarrass him with signs this time."

"I like where this is heading, we will have to discuss this further later." The blonde nodded enthusiastically, smirking slightly at his best friend of four years. The most amusing thing in the world, and his only break from the mountainous pile of homework he had to complete to keep his grads up, was embarrassing Jesse and the other members of _Rebellion_ while they were up on stage. The pair were keeping a running total, and so far, Jesse was the easiest to humiliate. "I'll text you about it tonight."

"You boys have so much more fun than some of us doomed to walk to halls of McKinely. Are you sure you don't want to think about transferring? I'm terribly lonely after all." The brunette said suddenly, turning a serious gaze towards the two seniors. This question was posed most visits to Dalton and every time they answered…

Cody pretended to consider her offer seriously, pursing his lips in thought before shaking his head. "Not a chance, Rach. I think I'll stick to the crazy halls of Dalton; it's much more my style, you know? Besides if I stay here you have more of an excuse to come and visit me more often. Even if you get lonely with Noah hanging around all day, or those idiot Warblers you call friends…"

"I can leave the guys like that," Jesse quipped with a smirk, "Even though I, like Cody here, would much prefer to avoid the crazy train of your Warbler friends."

"Cody, Jesse," Rachel drawled playfully, slapping the boys' chest, "They're your friends too, and you know they aren't really idiots, so don't be mean."

"Then how would you describe them?" Jesse quipped with a smirk.

"Oh, I don't know," she giggled, craning her neck to observe Wes and David use Wes' gavel to play baseball, smacking little rolled up balls of paper around the room. Others, who were encouraging such behaviour, were cheering them on. It was then that Rachel continued, "They're just… _special._"

Cody snorted, "Special in the head maybe."

"You guys are being mean again."

Cody grinned slyly and looked over to the boys in various places around the room and then back to Rachel, "It's not like they heard me, now, did they?"

"Anyway," Rachel started, changing the subject quickly, "Uncle Jack isn't around is he? He promised to return Dad's tie today; he's been getting a little grumpy because Jack took it without his permission and he needs it for a conference tomorrow."

Cody looked from the door where Blaine had just entered with an unfamiliar boy, Kurt, in tow, raising an eyebrow at the intruder. Blaine straightened out the lapel of Kurt's black coat, obviously he was not of the school and had attempted to recreate the uniform before the soloist said something he couldn't quite catch and bounded off to round up the Warblers. "Yeah, Dean Evetts was in his office when I passed about fifteen minutes ago. I can't guarantee that he will still be in there when the Warblers are finished, however, you know how he is." He said, fiddling with one of his badges. Jack Evetts was the headmaster of Dalton and also Rachel's dad's, Hiram, brother. She was very close to her Uncle, seeing him more like an extension of her group of friends and all of the boys in Dalton respected him for his fun sense of humour and relaxed personality.

"I know," Rachel chuckled, nodding in agreement. "But he won't stray too far."

Cody grinned, "Maybe to the Home Ec room, perhaps."

"That's pretty likely."

"He's not all that impulsive and very predictable. But you know what that means!" Cody looked a little giddy, bouncing on his seat. "We all get whatever he's cooking tonight after dinner!"

Rachel frowned, sighing. She knew the mind of her Uncle well, and that in fact he would be giving whatever delicacies the cooking obsessed man was currently creating to the boys of Dalton that night. But she would never reveal her secret income of said treats that were sent straight to her doorstep wrapped up in a box with a pink ribbon. "I guess I'll miss out then."

The tall blonde smirked. "You're loss."

"Is our gain," Jesse sing songed, throwing his arm around Rachel's waist when she decided to rest her head against his shoulder, their bond shared between close intimate touches that were only platonic in a brother – sister kind of way.

"Now shut up, they're starting." She clapped her hands together, smiling at Wes, David, Thad and Blaine when they took up their positions with the rest of the Warblers. The Warblers began to sing the first few bars of Teenage Dream. Blaine grinned, his vivid facial expressions bringing colour into the song. "_Before you met me..."_

* * *

><p>Rachel clapped and whistled like she used to when she'd call the boys to their tree after Temple, turning a few of the boy's heads in glee. Wes looked in her direction, absolutely radia1ting with happiness, grinning brightly, his gavel clasped tightly in his hand. They'd once tried to stage an intervention for Wes and his gavel, but Blaine ended up getting concussed by a hockey stick. Sitting in the clinic for three hours waiting for Blaine's mother to get off work was not how they'd imagined they'd spend a Friday night.<p>

The oriental boy dragged David along with him as they excitedly pulled her in for a hug. "You made it!" Wes exclaimed.

"Always," Rachel grinned, melting into his hug. "I wouldn't miss a chance to hear all of my boys sing."

"Oh, we're your boys now, are we?"

Rachel winked and nudged the Asian in the ribs, smiling sweetly. "But of course."

"We really do appreciate it, Rachie." David shifted his bag onto the other shoulder. "Did Noah come with you?"

Rachel pointed into the crowd where Puck was chatting with a boy, standing at at least six foot six, with grey steely eyes and messy blonde hair that was pushed down by a black fedora, standing next to a decorated guitar case. "He's talking to Ethan. He'll be over in a minute after their little bro fest, or whatever you want to call the relationship they had. Now… If you'll excuse me, I have to have a few words with Thaddeus before he slinks of to hide forever."

The two boys winced and scurried over to Blaine, who was still talking to Kurt. David wrapped an arm around his neck. "Blainey! That was your best performance yet!"

Wes nodded enthusiastically, throwing his arm around the other side of Blaine's neck, and consequently interfering with Kurt's proximity to the boy. "You were simply divine." He exclaimed.

"Couldn't be better."

"Superb."

"Magnificent."

"Brilliant."

"Superb…"

"Have we said that already?"

"I think so…"

"Well, it doesn't matter. We should go and get coffee to celebrate. Do you want coffee? I want coffee."

"I want coffee Wes, don't you Blainey?"

Kurt stared at him and Blaine looked momentarily confused at his best friend's insane behaviour, or at least more insane than normal. Something was definitely up with the pair, or something they were trying to distract him from was about to happen.

"You can even bring the new kid!" Wes prompted, tugging harshly on his blazer. Blaine momentarily lost his balance and stumbled forward, much to the confusion and horror of Kurt, who had yet to speak since the two council member's arrival.

And then it clicked.

Blaine could see Rachel stalking over towards Thad and finally understood. He nodded sharply and looked to Kurt, grabbing his hand again. He was trying to keep a cool composure about himself, but with Wes and David acting like five year olds on crack it was becoming increasingly difficult not to join them. It might scare Kurt away though, and he seemed to have an ulterior motive for spying. Yes, he knew well of the New Directions and their members; and while they never believed they would actually stoop to spying on the competition, Kurt looked more impassive and quizzical at the boys and atmosphere around him rather than the actual performance itself. "This is Wes and David. Would you like a cup of coffee? I think we should talk."

Kurt gulped nervously. It was nice while it lasted.

* * *

><p>Puck watched Rachel move through the crowd of boys. From where he stood next to Ethan, feeling comparatively smaller in size; leant over to Thad who was stuffing his shoulder bag with papers and books. "I'm warning you now. Rachel's extremely pissed and all of that anger seems to be directed at you…"<p>

"But… But I didn't do anything." Thad gulped, his hands shaking nervously.

Puck laughed heartily and patted him on the back roughly. "She thinks it was you who filled up her car this time. I'm not going to tell her otherwise. I'm content staying out of the firing line."

Thad paled and yelped in concern, leaping at least a foot in the air. He literally dived under one of the table in order to avoid his friend's wrath, huddling under the small space and pretending to look occupied looking for a non-existent object on the ground. Some of the Warblers, as curious as ever, watched their council member dive for cover in surprise, yet to spot Rachel approaching, a feral growl escaping her lips.

"THADDEUS MARTIN HARWOOD! YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!"

The petite but fiery brunette came storming through the crowd of boys, hands on her hips and eyes narrowed into an icy glare, directed straight at the cowering Warbler. Though she was dressed in her custom made Dalton uniform she was wearing her take-no-nonsense knee high combat boots that

Were incredibly damaging to a certain part of the male anatomy.

It took only for a few moment for their shock to wear off, realising Rachel's temper was directed only at Thad. The Warblers all loved Rachel when she came to hang out with her friends and Puck at Dalton. Most of the boys broke into grins.

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO MESS WITH BARBRA? LEAVE. HER. ALONE!"

The entire hall went quiet. Thad poked his head out, banging it on the underside of the table in his haste. He sheepishly rubbed his head. "Rachel! Hey! What a surprise! Has anyone told you that you look lovely today? Did you get a haircut? I didn't realise you'd get here so early. We were expecting you later in the day. I just... uh... um… I'm just looking for a contact lens. Yeah! I lost my contact."

Puck groaned, Thad didn't wear contact lenses. The dumbass was only making it worse for himself. His friend, Ethan, however found it hilarious and was laughing at Thad's misfortune, propping an elbow on the upturned guitar case, as if it were a cane. "What did he do this time, No?" There was little surprise in his voice, more amusement at the fact that once again one of the four boys had managed of piss the girl off within the first hour of her attendance at the school.

Puck smirked. "They filled her car with the balls again, she's not happy."

"Ooh, bad move, she was pretty pissed last time. But I thought it was Blaine this time…"

"It was but I'm not going to tell her that she's wrong. As much as I love her, Rachel is scary when she's mad."

"Tell me about it."

* * *

><p>"<em>From here on out the tale was truly about to begin.<em>"

David, Wes and Blaine sat Kurt down in one of the study halls adjoining the Senior Commons, coffees in hand and smiles fixed in place. From a distance they could hear a high pitch voice yelling at someone named Thad. Kurt was curious because the voice sounded familiar but the noise of all the other students made it unclear, while the three other boys hung their heads in sympathy for Thad.

Kurt started. "It's very civilised for you to buy me coffee before you beat me up for spying."

Wes looked at him and shook his head at the brunette boy. He had heard about that school from the many rants Puck and/or Rachel had made over the years, yelling at the top of their lungs until they were blue in the face about Neanderthals, hopeless football coaches, satanic cheerleading coaches, the idiot leading the glee club and just about anything else that came to mind at the time. The boys had also learnt about the other New Direction members, Kurt in particular. Rachel had always been concern for the boy's wellbeing, because she knew that she could directly relate to his experiences through her fathers or even Blaine. She looked out for him in subtle ways, ways that he would never notice or appreciate. For example she would distract one of the Neanderthals coming to harass him, taking the slushie instead or making herself a target for their attacks. Because despite the vicious comments and jibes towards her that he made, Rachel Berry was watching out for him. "We are not going to beat you up."

David grinned, "You were such a terrible spy, we thought it was..." he looked at his friends smugly, as if the next word to come out of his mouth was an accomplishment, "sort of _endearing_."

The other two Warblers present groaned, letting their hands greet their faces for reasons unknown to Kurt as they shook their head sadly and in embarrassment. David looked unaffected by his companions reactions and continued to sip his coffee or smile at Kurt softly.

Kurt took a sip of his coffee, staring at the three boys in both amazement and confusion.

Blaine looked up and tilted his head, analysing their 'spy's' behaviour. "Which made me think…" He paused and Kurt met his hazel gaze. "That spying on us wasn't really the reason you came."

Kurt's eyes went wide, like saucers, and he backed his chair away a little nervously and sighing. He looked at the three boys in uniform that were carefully watching him now, his eyes flickering between them. "Can I ask you guys a question?" He waited for them all to nod before he continued. "Are… are you guys all gay?"

The boys chuckled and ducked their heads. Blaine looked up, attempting to control his laughter. "Uh… uh, no. Uh… I mean I am. But these guys have girlfriends…. Or at least they'd like to have girlfriends." Blaine's voice dipped to a whisper as he leant over closer to Kurt so that only he could hear, "We're not entirely sure but we think they make them up in their heads."

"Hey!" Wes protested, puffing out his chest in mock hurt. "Just because we're single…"

David hushed Wes with a hand gesture and turned back to Kurt with a grin, "This is not a gay school." He replied clearly. The boy's head drooped slightly so David continued. "We just have a zero tolerance of harassment policy."

"Everybody gets treated the same, no matter what they are." Wes added, calming down significantly and slipping into an authoritive, protective mode. With a shrug he said, "It's pretty simple."

Kurt looked both in shock and amazed at the information just been told to him. He was struggling to form the right words in response as his clear blue eyes began to mist over. He was steely and refused to allow himself to cry in front of these three guys who had caught him spying on them. He turned to gaze unfocused out the window.

Wes cut in to draw him from his thoughts, and un-avertedly calmed him slightly. "Just take it easy, Kurt."

"We take it you're having trouble with school," Blaine said softly, taking another sip of his coffee.

Eventually his brain punctuated real words instead of staring at them like a gaping fish. Heaving a deep breath he turned to face them, "I'm the only person out of the closet at my school." His resolve was about to break and in a minute he would begin to cry, but nevertheless he pushed on and told them his story. "A… a… and I try and stay strong about it. There's this Neanderthal who's made it his mission to make my life a living hell… And nobody seems to notice."

The boys shared a knowing look, passing an unspoken thought between them. _Rachel and Noah care, he's just never taken the time to notice. He's never seen them draw attention away and take the hits instead, or threaten the guys to back off; he probably would never know unless they chose to tell him. But Kurt's too proud to beg for help, or specifically seek either of the pair out after the history they've had together. Rachel said that they've never really had a particularly close relationship, despite them being so close in personality and 'Puck' (not Noah) had been one of the boys biggest tormentors for the majority of his high school life._

"We know how you feel," Blaine responded, leaving his cup untouched on the table. Wes and David nodded solemnly, remembering times in their past with James Puckerman, the kid that bullied Rachel or Puck and then subsequently moved onto bullying all three of them, to even their middle school friend's father. "Would you like to talk about it? Sure, I'd love to just suggest for you to come and enrol here, but I know tuition here is steep so it's not an option for everyone."

Kurt looked at the three earnest faces staring back at him and considered, slowly nodding.

* * *

><p>"Don't you 'Hey, Rachel' me, and you know as well as I do that you don't wear contact lenses." Rachel's eyes narrowed, hands poised on her hips.<p>

Many of the boys had the decency to wince at her tone, slinking back out of the room until there was only a small smattering of Warblers left, still packing up their things. Even the teachers patrolling the halls were leaving the Senior Commons alone in fear for their lives. Thad took a step, jumping out from underneath the table and very slowly backing away from the diva, hands raised in surrender.

"What possessed you to fill my car with plastic balls... again? I told you last time if you did it again I'd castrate you and then hang you from the flag pole out the front of the school..." Rachel smirked when Thad's face paled completely.

"Uh..." Thad was floundering. "I didn't… I didn't do it! You have got to believe me, that it wasn't my fault this time."

Rachel blinked at him in disbelief, her frown deepening. "You honestly don't think that I'm dumb enough to believe that, do you? I don't know anyone stupid enough, except maybe Noah, who would consciously assault my baby three times in a month. "

"Hey!" Puck cried. "Don't bring me into this!"

"I still didn't do it." Thad was shaking now. Either in fear of his life or from the suppressed laughter threatening to erupt from his mouth as Rachel continued to glare down at him.

"Who else in this room has access to thousands of Dalton coloured plastic ball pit balls? Answer that. I don't think many of the guys in here would have the kind of family leverage yours does. Wait until I tell Christina you're abusing Danny's theme park powers again." Rachel was turning red in the face. Danny, Thad's older brother, who took over one of his father's multiple theme park chains, had on more than one occasion over the years had provided the group with piles of plastic balls to amuse themselves with. Her famous Rachel Berry rants stunning the room.

"It was Blaine's idea!"

"What? I still don't believe you."

"Find him. He did it! Ask Wes! Ask David! Hell, ask any one of the Warblers, they over heard him talking about his plan to fill up your car. He framed me, I swear, I had no part in this plan… this time. Besides, Danny would be more than happy to give him the material, just as he would to me. You know what my older brother is like."

* * *

><p>Blaine took a sip of his coffee, half listening to Kurt outline some of the day to day problems he faced being a member of New Directions and half listening to Rachel chew out Thad with an amused expression he was trying incredibly hard to hide. David turned to smirk at Wes, "He's so dead," he mouthed from behind Blaine, covering his mouth so that Kurt wouldn't see. They were amused, until... <em>"Where's that hobbit!?"<em>

"And so when I blew the high F, Rachel actually..." Kurt stopped midsentence. He'd started his tale of the bullying at the very beginning, when glee first started, because essentially that was the best place for him to begin. The three boys were listening with rapt attention, asking questions in disbelief after his explanation as to some of the things that went on in the New Directions, laughing at the appropriate moments and generally making him relax. His earlier fears and worries were slowly ebbing away; Kurt was beginning to understand that he could tell these boys and believe that they would try to help him in whatever way they could.

But suddenly his companions had all instantaneously gone a deathly white.

Blaine spat out his coffee all over the table, wide eyed and panicked. "Shi-"

"What?" Kurt asked, alarmed at Blaine's sudden erratic behaviour. He'd seemed calm and collected a minute ago. Maybe he remembered that he had a test or something, Kurt figured, nodding absentmindedly.

* * *

><p>"Where's that hobbit?" Rachel scowled, facing Puck and Ethan. "Give me his location and maybe you'll both survive this."<p>

Puck gulped and Ethan made to scurry away with his guitar in hand, bounding over the couches as if there were only a small inconvenience and dashing out the door. A small smirk on his face as he left his mo-hawked friend to fend for himself. "You're on your own, dude." He called over his shoulder loudly, turning the corner and exiting the hall.

"Wimp," Puck mumbled under his breath, silently cursing the extremely tall blonde.

"Where is he, Noah." Rachel growled and Puck immediately pointed her towards the Study Hall with a finger. Thad was still shaking, watching the girl carefully as she assessed the situation. He knew very well that if she was not satisfied that Blaine was indeed the culprit behind the accusation against her car then she would come after him instead. Rachel smiled sweetly, kissing Noah on the cheek before bringing back out her devil horns, glaring heavily at Thad first. Puck and Thad ran after her... Maybe they could stop her from killing him… at least completely.

* * *

><p>"Oh Blaine, where are you?" Rachel sing-songed; bouncing lightly on her toes as boys parted to allow her access through the hall. No one dared to whisper a single word to her, in fear that she may just come after them next; or that she'd set her uncle on them. It was an unspoken rule, no one ever touched Rachel Berry's car.<p>

Kurt swivelled around in surprise when Rachel came strutting through the corridor. Wes and David were slowly edging closer to Kurt, dragging their chairs along the ground with wary expressions on their faces. Blaine's head snapped up and glared at his two traitorous friends for ratting him out. "What the hell dude, we had a deal." he mouthed to Thad, who was behind Rachel and shrugged sheepishly, before racing as far away from Rachel as humanly possible, cursing out any one who got in his way. Taking this as proof enough, Rachel glared at her curly haired friend and taking chase.

"She sounds like one of those psycho killers from those movies she made us watch last week. They seriously gave me nightmares," David whispered to Wes, who shuddered violently at the memory of the killer clowns that often appeared in some of Rachel's favourite horror movies. Rachel enjoyed scary movies and watched at least one once or twice a week, the boys, however, hated them with a passion because they couldn't watch the entire movie without a pillow covering their faces for the majority of it.

Kurt just blinked in confusion.

"Blaine!" Rachel lunged forward but the lead Warbler was too quick, jumping behind a passing boy, Trent, the sassy Warbler and Rachel's fellow fashion buddy, who had come to the Study Hall in hope of some peace and quiet to get his homework for the day finished. He groaned loudly, swatting Blaine away, when the pair put him in the middle of one of their dramatic fights. They were circling each other around him in a predatory manor. Rachel hissed, "Come quietly and this won't get messy."

Blaine jumped away and climbed up onto one of the padded wooden chairs, his foot resting on top of the back of the chair; chest puffed out and hands on his hips, glaring down as Rachel moved closer. "You'll never take me alive!" He crowed, pushing down on the back of the chair and tipping it, not only for a quicker escape but to also slow down Rachel as she tried to pick her way around the four legs of the chair that ended up suspended in the air.

"Get back here!"

"Not a chance, midget." There was a collective groan throughout the boys in the room. They knew this wouldn't end well on Blaine's part, it never ended well for him or anyone else caught up between their little disputes. And almost always something broke because both Blaine and Rachel seemed to believe that they were both indeed part chimpanzee and would swing or jump from the furniture to avoid the hallway traffic or find the quickest escape route.

Rachel's scowl deepened immensely.

"So that's how you want to play, dear Blainers. A little bit of the pot calling the kettle black, don't you think? I call it irony when you're pretty much the same height that I am, and besides I can always recount some of the times when you were in fact even smaller… Now… You won't escape me, Blaine, remember what happened last time?"

David snorted loudly at the last comment, distracting Rachel long enough for Blaine to dash out of the Study Hall unnoticed, his feet pounding down the marbled halls to find a hiding spot that would shield him from his fate. The dark skinned Council Warbler shrunk away from the bitch face currently being directed at him, looking sheepish, before Rachel spun on her heel and darted out of the hall after her prey.

There was a silence.

When he was sure that Rachel had left, Thad pulled up a chair and sat down between Wes and Kurt, laughing silently at the whole exchange while Puck, who sauntered in behind him took Blaine's seat opposite Kurt, and smirked. "Sup, Hummel. Having a good time? The Warblers were pretty good, not their best performance, I'll say, but not bad."

"You know Blaine picked the song," Wes said nodding his head in a very sage like manner. "We'd had enough of his unrelenting begging to do at least one Katy Perry song this year and let him sing it if he finally agreed to shut up."

"You know that won't work, he'll be back to his usually annoying begging by next week." Thad conceded plainly.

David sighed and rubbed his temples dramatically, "I know that as well as you do, Thad, but we can only hope… right?"

"Puckerman?" Kurt spluttered, interrupting the banter being exchanged between the boys, trying to comprehend his fellow teammate's arrival and Rachel's sudden burst in; both in official Dalton uniforms no less. "What are you doing here? The boys agreed you weren't allowed to come, don't tell me the others are here as well. And where on earth did you get that uniform from?"

"It's my uniform, or at least it's mine now, it used to be Rachel's brother and in my opinion I think it looks good on me, " Puck said nonchalantly, ignoring the snort that came from Wes, David and Thad, and shrugged and grinned at the council members, "Well it's hard to refuse a formal invitation, you know. It just wouldn't be the polite thing to do."

"Watch it Noah, you're starting to sound a lot like Ray. You've been spending way too much time with her." Wes smirked, smacking the brute away when he pouted and made to hug Wes, had the boy not ducked and moved out of grasp.

"That's because you _idiots_ decided to leave me alone with her and go to your private school." Puck brushed them off and returned his hands to the table, and away from the proximity of Wes.

David snorted. "You're here enough. This is basically your school too… hell you basically live here anyway. Enrol and nothing would really change besides the few days a week you spend at your school."

Kurt looked between the boys and the easy laughter enveloping them. He's always known Puck for ditching, and he'd heard about Rachel's family issues, but for some reason it'd never clicked in his head that the three out of five days that they skipped, par glee (as they always tried to return for that) were at the same time. Had this been where Puck and Rachel disappeared too?

"Yeah, the offer for tuition still stands, man. You're our best friend and we don't mind paying for it. Hell, Uncle Jack would probably let you in for free." Thad reminded him helpfully.

Puck considered the offer with a grin, shaking his head slightly. "And leave Rachel all by herself? Nah. I'll pass. I'd miss her crazy ass too much if I did that, besides, could you imagine the havoc she would cause at McKinely by herself without someone to calm her down?"

"Oh holy hell, the world would end," David breathed with wide eyes, imaging the possibilities of a rogue Rachel set loose upon the unsuspecting halls of McKinely.

The four burst out laughing as Blaine ran back through the Study Hall and out the other side again without so much as a glance in their direction, Rachel trailing not far behind. Rachel looked perfectly fine and unaffected by the chaos, continuing to scowl deeply in the direction that Blaine was traveling, but Blaine was going red in the face and panting heavily. No one had been hurt in their chase… until not two minutes after they'd come and gone a loud crash resounded through the halls; followed by an angry string of curses courtesy of who ever had been unlucky enough to get caught in the cross fire of what ever had broken and fallen.

Kurt looked at them all in bewilderment. They've been calling him Noah without being disembowelled. Rachel was acting _somewhat_ normal, or at least the complete opposite of the psychotic personality she had in glee. There were four boys he'd never met or seen before acting as if everything was perfectly normal. And Kurt was left wondering how he managed to get swept up into the madness. Did he wake up in an alternative reality this morning? "What's going on here?"

"A guy can't visit his friends anymore?" Puck asked innocently, blinking at Kurt with a sly smile on his face.

"When it comes to you, Puckerman, no." Kurt raised his eyebrow in disbelief. He knew the real Puck, right? He knew there has to be some ulterior motive for his actions.

"I'm telling the truth. Don't look so worried, Hummel, I'm not up to anything. These guys are good friends of mine and Rachel's, I've known then for as long as I can remember and they invited us to come watch their performance." Puck smirked as if reading Kurt's mind, leaning across the table to hand him a bottle of water. "You look like you're about to faint. And you don't want to do that, because I just know Thaddy has his marker on hand. It's awesome fun and super hilarious when they wake up to find all of the things drawn on their face, but you probably wouldn't appreciate the sentiment!"

Kurt looked at him in shock and horror. This is not the Puckerman he knows - the one who used to throw him in dumpsters and toss slushies in his face. This is like the person he'd only briefly glimpsed once before. Right after Beth was born and signed away. Puck had cried. Correction, Noah had cried that day, in Rachel's arms and then Blaine's when the New Directions minus Rachel went back to Regionals. His friend's stayed with him in the waiting room for hours as he let it out. Not once did they complain.

Thad frowned at Puck. "Noah, leave Kurt alone. He's not used to you with your nice face on."

"I'm always nice, man. You know that."

Everyone snorted and Puck looked disheartened. "That's such bullshit," Thad chuckled, patting the pouting boy's head reassuringly, "But we still love you."

"Don't make me go and get Jack, _ladies,"_ Wes snorted.

"Jack's awesome, he wouldn't do anything, mom." Puck drew out, much to Wes' displeasure of the horrendous nickname he'd picked up in freshman year. "Especially since he gave me the master key..."

"Haven't you noticed how Jack loves us," Thad swooned dramatically.

"We're his favourites... besides Rachel!"

"Wait! Uncle Jack gave you a master key, Puckerman? What? I asked him for one ages ago. He refused and said that it'd be irresponsible for him to give it to a student." David exclaimed, almost tipping his and Kurt's chairs over.

"I guess I'm just the favourite, Davey. Besides, he just knows you, Wessy and Thad would use it for evil during the night. Blaine's too short to do anything evil so he doesn't really count towards anything." Puck grinned.

Wes eyeballed the football player. "So what was that the other night? I don't remember sneaking into the dorms and putting all of the Warbler's ties, blazers and shirts in the trees just outside the teacher's longue. We had to collect them shirtless while creepy Ms Amble-gate watched us from the window. She had this weird grin on her face that made me feel all uncomfortable."

Puck spluttered, "What? That would have been epic? Who thought of doing that? Damn, just when I thought I had finally managed to earn the right of _best prank in the school_ with my series of flour bombs and fun houses someone steals it from under my feet."

"So it wasn't you?" Thad asked sceptically.

Puck sighed and shook his head sadly, "I wish I could say that it was my brilliance, but alas, good sir, I am not the one you want."

They had no idea that it was one Rachel Berry who broke into the school that one night with her own master key, stole into the Warblers' dorm rooms and paid Ms Amble-gate to creep the boys out. It was their punishment for everything they've done to her car that month.

Kurt cleared his throat and the four boys turned to face him, returning their attention back at the 'spy'. "Why did you never tell Mr Schue that you know people from a different Glee Club. A rival glee club no less."

"Because it has nothing to do with him and it had nothing to do with New Directions." Puck fiddled with a pin adorning a little yellow Warbler that was clipped on his blazer, feeling the gaze of his friends and Kurt on him. "Frankly, I've been a Warbler longer than New Directions has even existed. I have my badge here and everything, see... The Warblers are our friends, probably more so than New Directions ever will be – they understand me and they understand Rachel because we all take the time to get to know each other on a personal level rather than using each other as a means to win. We're a family and that means more to me than winning a trophy at any competition or fighting for the newest solo Mr Schue hands out; as long as I get to make music and have some fun with these guys I'm happy, and that's what the Warblers are all about."

"So, if I have this correct… You and Rachel have been going behind the glee club's back to spend time with the Warblers?"

"Hey, hold on a minute, Kurt. That's not exactly fair," Rachel said re-entering the study area with Blaine, hog tied and thrown over her shoulders. The boy was growling ferally at the girl, struggling against the bonds keeping him immobilised. In all, he had given a worthy chase, but Rachel had eventually cornered him in the cafeteria – they had only broken one lamp and injured two or three people in the hallway this time, which was an improvement to the last time that they broke a chandelier and someone's leg…

* * *

><p>Even though she was small, Rachel was extremely strong she had to learn to hold her own from a young age if she wanted to keep up with her boys. She was smirking triumphantly, ignoring the bright red bruises forming on both sides of her arms. A closer inspection would reveal several deep teeth marks from where Blaine had sunk his teeth into her flesh, almost drawing blood from the deep purple welts that were developing. The brunette carried on as if nothing was wrong. Blaine snarled at her, turning his angry gaze to his traitorous friends, who couldn't keep straight-faced at the hilarity of Blaine's situation.<p>

Rachel put Blaine down on the floor with a thud, helping him to at least prop his back against the leg of the table and looked at Kurt, not mad, just slightly wounded. "You can't accuse us of being traitorous. We haven't done anything wrong, but come and visit our friends. It's like everything with New Directions is a pride hit, something that will ultimately destroy the club so no one can do anything that isn't approved first. We can't have friends outside McKinely now? Because, what? In fear of them stealing our set list? The Warblers are nothing but perfect gentlemen and would never -"

"We would never dream of stealing someone else's set list," David cut in with a chuckle, thankful Rachel left out the madness that infected the entire campus, "Only Vocal Adrenaline would stoop to such low levels to win. We believe in talent and hard work."

"What Davey said," Puck nodded sternly, crossing his arms to stare at Kurt. "The Warblers are my friends and I trust them with my life. If you must, go tell the New Directions and try to force us to stop speaking to the Dalton boys. But I warn you know, this is our family, and they're way more important to us than glee club, so the choice to stay or go will always… always be **go**."

"What... no... That's not what I meant. The words came out wrong! I wasn't thinking about getting you to stop coming to Dalton, or give you an ultimatum… I trust you guys." His face burned scarlet, flustering. "I'm just trying to understand this whole situation. Not only are you both acting incredibly different but you seem so settled here at Dalton. It's all very surreal, I've always believe you and Rachel to hate each, you've never been friends at school."

Puck snorted loudly and unashamed. "We are; you just haven't noticed it. We're always hanging out in the quadrangle together or sitting together in class or I'm stealing her food. It's not that hard to miss. Hell, four these guys are there just as often as were are here. Sure the teachers don't like them as much, so we mostly come to Dalton, but they're still there."

"I've never seen them before."

Blaine, now free of the bindings on his legs (loosened by excessive struggling) climbed onto his own chair, closest to Kurt. Only then did the boys notice Blaine's true punishment. He frowned at Rachel with marginally less of his eyebrows and bright red marks where they used to extend to, and explained. "We don't go in uniform and only hang around in the classes both Noah and Rachel have, you've probably just never realised it was us, not like you would even know who we are in the first place, right? It's like them. When they come here they have to wear the uniform, or in Rachel's case a skirt instead of pants."

"I still think Rach is hot in her uniform," Thad informed them, only to be slapped in the chest by Rachel.

* * *

><p>"Can I ask one more question?" Kurt asked suddenly as the small group trudged to the cafeteria to get another coffee. It was the first time they moved from their table in the study hall, and Blaine's first moments of freedom after Wes forced Rachel to untie him. The school was still abuzz after the latest performance so the student body was still milling around the halls, congratulating Warblers on a job well done, or asking them when the next one was. Kurt was still completely shocked by the atmosphere of the school and the behaviour two of his teammates<p>

Rachel looked at him. "What is it?"

"Where did you get that gorgeous broach pinned onto your blazer? And why do you not wear things like that to school?"

Rachel laughed and shook her head, "I have a wardrobe filled with my designer stuff, I just don't wear them to school because I don't want them to get ruined. I wear them everywhere else though. You're welcome to look through it at some point. My Daddy is the editor of Vouge so we get a lot of the left over run way designs. You should come over one time and browse; I'm sure he won't mind giving you a few things."

Kurt just about had a heart attack.

Rachel rolled her eyes but beamed.

Puck smirked.

Blaine smiled charmingly.

Wes and David laughed at Blaine.

Thad grinned smugly.

* * *

><p>"Blaine! Blaine! Blaine!" Puck continued tapping Blaine on the shoulder until he turned to pay attention to him, smiling brightly, "I have an idea."<p>

As much as the two bickered or, in Puck's case, pranked each other they turned to the other in times of need or boredom.

The little group had settled in the Warbler Hall at one of the mahogany desks resting close to the door, sipping their fresh coffee. The Warbler's Hall and rehearsal space was a warm room that was similar in design to the Senior Commons; open to use only by members of (or associated with) the Warblers; unless otherwise booked out by other clubs on some occasions. Couches of fine rich materials were resting on the thick red carpet on the floor, while underneath the large bay windows, which also served as seats, were several chess tables. The room was headed by a fire place and a banner with their mascot, a Warbler, adorned onto it, and in front of the fire place was a wooden desk perched in front of three high backed chairs. In the very centre of the room, opposite the double doors and three steps leading inside was a set of polished wooden floor boards that served as a dance floor.

Blaine sighed and shook his head fondly, pulling several lollipops out of his pants pocket, offering one to each of his friends, who all gladly accepted the treat. "What do you want, No?" He asked curiously, around the stick in his mouth.

Instead of replying, Puck reached down under the table to pull out his, and Blaine's, guitar cases that usually lived in this certain area of the room. "Play with me?" The boy grinned and the others laughed as he tested the tuning of his strings, adjusting them accordingly. The instrument was affectionately known as Draco because of its tendency to snap strings or fail to tune correctly. Kurt smiled, still adjusting to the sights and behaviours of this group of people who had basically kidnapped him. He'd never really heard Puckerman play his guitar in a casual setting, the very few occasions he had heard him strum along to his guitar was when Finn had requested some back up music.

"Of course," Blaine grinned, gently opening his own brightly decorated guitar case to remove Luna, his guitar. The fronts of both the guitars were plastered with numerous Harry Potter stickers; bumper stickers, normal stickers, big stickers, little stickers and even some with glitter on them (the main reason why this guitar- of the two he actually owned – stayed at Dalton and didn't make appearances at McKinely. "Anything in particular that you had in mind?"

"You'll know the one," Puck grinned and began to strum the chords; and after the very few bars Blaine picked up the melody quickly once he was sure the guitar was settled on his lap. Several Warblers studying around them looked up from the essays or reports they were writing with a grin, tapping their hands lightly against the table as Puck began to sing.

_One Love! One Heart!_  
><em>Let's get together and feel all right.<em>

Blaine joined him then, singing smoothly. Puck joined in with his own part of the song, layering their voices in a harmony that had Kurt a little weak in the knees and a crowd drawing closer into the Hall.

_Hear the children cryin' (One Love!);_  
><em>Hear the children cryin' (One Heart!),<em>  
><em>Sayin': give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;<em>  
><em>Sayin': let's get together and feel all right. Wo wo-wo wo-wo!<em>

Kurt was positively delighted as he tapped his hands against the wooden table top in front of him in a steady rhythm in time with Rachel. He had never provided anything like a bass beat to a song but it seems that Rachel as well versed in the art of percussion and showed him the steady tempo to bang his fists against the table to imitate a drum kit.

_Let them all pass all their dirty remarks (One Love!);_  
><em>There is one question I'd really love to ask (One Heart!):<em>  
><em>Is there a place for the hopeless sinner,<em>  
><em>Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own beliefs?<em>

_One Love! What about the one heart? One Heart!_  
><em>What about - ? Let's get together and feel all right<em>  
><em>As it was in the beginning (One Love!);<em>  
><em>So shall it be in the end (One Heart!),<em>  
><em>All right!<em>

Blaine and Puck grinned brightly, playing up the crowd of boys that were gathering in the doorways, to listen, as if they had been doing it all their lives. There was no doubt about it; both of these boys were natural born performers. Puckerman was a pleasant surprise of Kurt; always coming off tough and crass whenever he sang in Glee Club, never as carefree and relaxed as if seems at this moment.

_Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;_  
><em>Let's get together and feel all right.<em>  
><em>One more thing!<em>

_Let's get together to fight this Holy Armagiddyon (One Love!),_  
><em>So when the Man comes there will be no, no doom (One Song!).<em>  
><em>Have pity on those whose chances grows t'inner;<em>  
><em>There ain't no hiding place from the Father of Creation.<em>

The hall was beginning to fill, boys moving rapidly to listen to the music, as if they were bees attracted to sweet honey. In the middle of the chaos was the little group; the two boys strumming on their guitars and singing, Rachel and Kurt who were still banging away on the table top haphazardly and the three council Warblers who were clapping and dancing around their in their seats; just enjoying themselves.

_Sayin': One Love! What about the One Heart? (One Heart!)_  
><em>What about the - ? Let's get together and feel all right.<em>  
><em>I'm pleadin' to mankind! (One Love!);<em>  
><em>Oh, Lord! (One Heart) Wo-ooh!<em>

_Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;_  
><em>Let's get together and feel all right.<em>  
><em>Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;<em>  
><em>Let's get together and feel all right.<em>

The boys played their last note with a grin, smiles so wide that they were nearly touching their ears. Blaine had manoeuvred his body so that he sat back to back with Puck, panting heavily and relishing the smattering of loud cheers that had erupted with in the Warbler's Hall. The hazel eyed boy, however, was watching Kurt carefully, listening to the musical sound his voice made when he laughed and only inflated his ego when the new boy clapped and cheered the loudest. Kurt, however, was oblivious to the attention that Blaine was showing him, his body turning to shock as the surprise of Puck; and consequently Rachel.

"Brilliant as always, but I think I could do better," Rachel cried, while Wes dragged out of her chair by her hand, bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation.

"Yeah! It's our turn." Wes pointed out, spurring their mood on, dragging Rachel over to the corner of the room to dance around to the radio that someone had switched on for them.

"I can't argue with that!" David bobbed, following the dark haired trio to leave the four others alone at the table.

Kurt could only blink after them, tilting his head, "Do they always do that?"

Puck clapped his shoulder and chuckled, finishing clipping the last strap of his guitar case shut. He had the instrument propped up against the back of his chair next to Blaine's. "Get used to it Hummel. It happens all the time."

* * *

><p>"<em>I had never, in my previous years, experienced a period of time in which I discovered so many things. It seems silly for me to say this, as I had most definitely learned a great many number of things beforehand; but none more shocking than that afternoon."<em>

Over the next few hours Kurt learned a lot. Rachel, Wes and David returned from their small 'dance party' that lasted a good twenty minutes and had a many number of boys drooling after the girl before being shooed out by Thad and Puck.

The Warbler Hall was nearly empty after that, leaving just the small group; who had moved over to the many couches to spread out. Rachel was reclining on a three seat couch; Wes, David and Thad were all sitting on the floor with their backs resting against Rachel's couch and Blaine and Puck were cuddled up next to each other on the other side of the table separating the group (Kurt had discovered that Puck rather loved just curling up on a couch with his friends and was rather affectionate outside of school). Kurt had forced Rachel to move her legs so that he could sit down at the end, but ended up with her legs in his lap.

"_We had talked endlessly until the sun began to dip low in the sky. We talked over everything and nothing; nonsense and deep. Nearly every topic had been approached – Music; movies; school; fashion; sports; even food. It was wondrous and casual as the group filled me in on their world. I saw my world through their eyes and came to know how they acted through the numerous stories of memories were shared."_

Over this time, Rachel had patiently explained how they'd play together in the park, immediately answering any questions Kurt had.

Kurt was having trouble imagining Puckerman smaller than Blaine and as stringy as a twig with a thick head of dark curls and glasses. He'd only ever seen the boy with a wall of muscle, his Mohawk and never hinted to the fact that he needed glasses. It helped when Thad pulled out a photo from his wallet of them when they were 7 – the boys had their arms around each other, looking proud, and Rachel was sitting on top of David's back, grinning with pride and holding a trophy high above her head. They were all in their sweaty, muddy, fluro green and black soccer uniforms; the East Lima Bears (under 8 division champions).

Puck had even taken out his contact lenses to complete the image for Kurt and pulled out his so that he could put them on. Ten minutes later at Kurt hadn't stopped laughing; Puck was scowling deeply at the brunette boy as his friends surrounding them were trying not to let their amusement show. They were Harry Potter glasses, and no one could deny that Harry Potter was totally _badass_. Who wouldn't want to be like a wizard who ran around zapping people with his wand? Puck forcibly admitted that he was an even bigger Harry Potter nerd than Blaine.

"_The transformation of two of my peers opened my eyes to really evaluate my relationship with others back at home and ask myself the question; where they really what I thought they to be? But no matter what bonds collapsed that day the bonds that were made are far more important to me now and back then."_

Rachel was normal. Not that her branch of insane crazy (the good kind) would be considered normal; and when Kurt said as such she laughed and replied: "It's better to be insane than normal, because normal is boring."

Still Kurt was having difficulty separating the overachieving, loud, obnoxious _'glee club'_ Rachel he'd come to know and detest over the year that they have been in the New Directions together and the charming, relaxed, funny '_Dalton´ _Rachel, who was slowly revealing herself fully to him. However, it wasn't like anyone at Dalton had ever experienced anyone other than the Rachel lounging on her couch before him. She'd stopped using as many big words and just relaxed. She smiled a lot, Kurt discovered, and not just a plastered on fake show face that she used to fool the glee club into thinking that she was fine, but a real smile that actually reached her bright, inquisitive eyes. Rachel also laughed a lot, mostly to inside jokes that Kurt had no idea why they were so funny, and she also liked to make her own jokes; more than once leaving Kurt in stitches with one of her stories.

His face was actually beginning to hurt from all of the smiling, an action he'd become foreign with over the last few weeks.

She was friendly and patient and understanding, listening to everything he had to say before answering carefully, sincerely meaning everything that Kurt said. This Rachel liked sports and gymnastics, exhibiting talent in soccer, cheerleading and a variety of other different activities that before this afternoon Kurt would never have associated with the Broadway driven girl.

Kurt also discovered that all of the personality flaws the Rachel Berry he had come to know in glee club were only a defence mechanism to keep people getting to close enough to hurt her. Her heart was sealed away from the prying eyes of the McKinely student body, and worn openly in the Dalton halls. The bully and taunts were affecting her more than she let on but couldn't bear to leave the school without Puck in tow; so she created the diva personality to shield some of that hurt and protect herself. The obnoxious need to control the glee club also stemmed from this hurt; everyday Rachel saw her fellow teammates hanging out with each other like friends where she was always left on the sidelines, alone, and made fun of when she tried to grab even a little bit of their attention. In reality Rachel was incredibly fragile and breakable, like a glass statue.

After Rachel, came the shocking discovers of Puck… Really, Puck didn't exist at Dalton. There was no trace of him whatsoever. Noah, on the other hand, was the boy sitting beside him resting a hand on Kurt's shoulder to make sure he was coping with everything that was being thrown at him. And Noah was wonderful. Noah was the boy asking him questions about his life that no one had bothered to know before because they had already decided on those facts about him for themselves.

He laughed and smiled and joked around with his friends in such an open and inviting way (something he'd never seen before) rather than the idiotic jostling defensive comments that were spat towards the Neanderthals on the football team, and despite the crudeness of most of his jokes Kurt found himself laughing along. That would never change.

Surprisingly Noah kept a straight A or B average in all of his Dalton classes, despite the advance curriculum, and admitted to purposely failing tests at McKinely to keep up his reputation around the school. He liked to read sci-fi novels, collect comic books and learn new things. His goal in life was to get out of Lima with a scholarship in his hand; chasing his dream of making it in either the music industry or even starting up a photography company.

Noah liked to bake cookies with his Nana and he knew how to knit because he took the time to sit down with the elderly woman every week for at least a few hours, telling her about his week and the antics of his friends or listening to some of their favourite classic records. Because, besides his mother and sister, his Nana was the only one left in his biological family and she was often lonely sitting in the nursing home by herself. The smile on her face when he walked through the door always made his day.

Puck was, like Rachel, also a defence mechanism that he had created on the very first day of high school. When he met Finn during orientation people had stereotyped them as being the athletic type. So from that day on he let others dictate his actions, spreading rumours until his reputation preceded him. Noah didn't want to have to act like he does most days, but now that they were so far into high school it would be impossible for Puck to completely vanish.

Girls were bitchy when it came to people that didn't necessarily 'fit it' but boys could be brutally abusive.

About an hour into the time that they had spent together Rachel decided that she wanted to take Kurt on a shopping spree with her gold card, equipped with an unlimited spending limit for times such as these. After further explaining her Daddy's job as Vogue's editor (explaining that he worked from Ohio because it suited Hiram the best rather than in New York; he often went on trips to meet with designers and such but was otherwise situated at home in his office). And with the knowledge that her Daddy knew many of the designers Kurt only dreamed of being like, she was also armed with little hole-in-the-wall boutiques that sold the high end brands but were not well known among the general population.

When Kurt made the mistake to ask what Rachel was like when she shopped, he received five simultaneous groans in reply; and as David so elegantly phrased it, the girl was a 'shopping Nazi'. But of course, being Jewish, Rachel and Puck found it incredibly offensive and proceeded to tip the dark skinned Warbler over and pelted him with pillows, glaring dangerously.

Once David was silenced, Rachel continued to outline her plans to kidnap Kurt for her shopping afternoon, accompanied by two of her favourite fashionistas, who similarly were part of what was known as Rachel's 'Diva Squad'. The two said boys materialised from their dorm rooms after a lengthy phone conversation with Rachel so that Kurt had the pleasure to meet them while he was within the school's campus.

The first boy, Kurt had seen before; in the Study Hall. His name was Trent, and also commonly referred to the Sassy Warbler because of his outgoing, take-no-bullshit, honest personality. He was a larger boy with a soft, round face that simply glowed with a friendly atmosphere, making Kurt feel comfortable around him very quickly. His short, styled, dark hair complimented his big, olive green eyes in a sort of wood nymph kind of way. He knew a lot about how to make fashion for everyone, from those with a skinny figure like Rachel to people like Mercedes who had a more defined curves.

Then, the second boy introduced himself. While Trent was exuberant and much larger, Spenser was much smaller, less so than Rachel, and extremely thin. Spenser was quiet spoken, shy and blushed deeply every time Trent touched him, turning his inquisitive, pale blue eyes to avoid Rachel's amused gaze. But, despite the boy's soft spokeness, Kurt found himself instantly connecting with him; bonding over their many common loves, including Project Runway and their dream of making it as either a performer on Broadway or a Fashion Designer. Every time he bobbed his head unruly caramel curls fell into his eyes leading to his constant need to push them out of his eyes.

An overwhelming number of boys, of all ages and personality, ended up coming into the Hall so that they could introduce themselves to Kurt, the new comer, or to say hello to the others of the group lounging around on the couches. Many of them were from the various classes that they shared with Puck and Rachel, all of whom smiled brightly and shook Kurt's hand with delight of a new 'guest' in their school.

The most memorable of these introductions had to have been Jesse and Cody; the two seniors bursting into the room demanding for Rachel to introduce them to her new friend. Both of them, much to the protest of Kurt, sat on either side of him, sandwiching him between their bodies, hugging him tightly. "Enough, guys," Blaine barked sharply after a considerable amount of time. The seniors reluctantly let go and slunk over to one of the other couches.

Other memorable faces came from a boy named Randal, who would sit and hoot with Puck during each Warbler rehearsal or hi-five random students in the hall way. He patted Kurt on the back and reclined on the edge of one of the couches. Randal was practically tone deaf and was proud of his inability to dance even a simple box step; and so spent the majority of his energy acting as the official leader of the non-existent Dalton Academy Warbler cheer squad.

The majority of the Warblers, all thirty of them, graced the group with their crazy presence when they descended onto the room just as Blaine and the three council members began singing to Mika's Happy Endings. Rachel and Puck took up the chorus, injecting their perfect harmonies to the other boys' voices to provide the necessary depth required for the song. They were the metaphoric 'tipping point' for the entire scenario as the Warblers and other musicians began to filter into the room, instruments in hand; seemingly attracted to the music like a magnet is to metal. All contributed their own harmonies and melodies; the usually acapella Warblers fighting it out with the musicians for better back up.

Puck's incredibly tall friend Ethan decided to settle the quarrel before it became out of hand (once again) by supplying an impressive three minute saxophone solo that, if Kurt hadn't known better, sounded as if it had always been a part of the original song.

Sometime after the song interlude and most of the boys had left the hall in favour of completing other things. The Warblers, however, had come trickling back in one by one fifteen minutes later, most of them out of their uniforms and wearing comfortable sweats; smiling and pulling up a chair to form a create big circle around the couches. Some, on the other hand, saw it more convenient to lie in the middle of the circle on the floor with the council.

"_The traditions the Warblers carried seemed silly back then, but I appreciated them for everything they were because I had finally been accepted by a group of teenage boys who liked me for me. They didn't feel weird because I was gay or frightened that I would do something to them; like I feared even my own New Direction teammates felt at the time. I was invited into the world of the Warblers. They officially adopted me as their temporary mascot; or so I was told at a later date by my so called best friends; and then warned that if I were to be one of them, I must swear to have the backs of my fellow 'bros' as they too would have mine – because, of course, Once a Warbler, Always a Warbler."_

The group of blazer clad boys (and Rachel) had patiently explained the dynamics of the Warblers, carefully emphasising the many differences and trying to analyse the few similarities that they shared with the New Directions. It was incredible to hear just how dysfunctional glee was at McKinely when you looked at it objectively in comparison to another club.

It was vitally important for each and every Warbler to trust each other like they would their family so that they could work together and create the amazing acapella harmonies that made them so special. Each voice had to work together to lift up the others, for without one person pulling their weight the entire group would feel flat and crumble; their lack of contribution would be noticed and missed immediately. Once they put on their uniforms and pins they became not roughly thirty individual voices looking to outshine one another, but rather one solid unit of equals working together to create beautiful harmonies.

The Warbler's dynamics was in complete contrast to the chaos that enveloped the daily lives of the New Directions; it was impossible for anyone in the club to not get sucked in by all of the drama. Someone was always cheating on their boyfriend or girlfriends; rumours ran rampart between the social members of the club and couple combinations changes almost weekly. Then there was the fighting and complaining about choice of soloists for that week's assignment. True, Kurt did participate in this behaviour most of the time; as did Rachel, looking back on it he saw how petty and irrelevant all of the fighting seemed.

Another difference between the two clubs; the Warblers did not have, or need, a choir director for them to function smoothly and instead had students contribute their ideas and vote for the most deserving before making any kind of major decision. Built upon three upperclassmen, they had all the power of a choir director, distributed evenly between them; there was the secretary (David), who kept all important documents concerning the Warblers and took the official minutes; the treasurer (Thad), who managed relationships and funding between the Warblers, Dalton and the school board and organised competition dates, transport and costs; and finally was the Head Council member (Wes), who oversaw the actions of his charges, prepared numbers for them to sing, distributed tasks between everyone and had the power to veto any decision that was unjust or dangerous as he saw fit.

Instead of being nominated for a solo, as is the common practise for the New Directions, the Warblers were required to experience an audition period where they would first sing for their peers, have their first performance evaluated and put to the vote, and then they would move onto a second round where the finalists could perform again with a small group of Warblers or with their own instruments. And even while the group nominated a 'lead soloist' at the beginning of a semester (they could be revoted or cycled through bi-yearly) any current member of the Warblers could audition for a solo.

This was all in a complete juxtaposition with the New Directions. The council was fair and allowed everyone to decide, not by popularity (as such a concept was non-existent with the group) but of the value of their voice and its capability to sing the proposed song. This was unlike Mr Schuster, who showed a blatant favouritism to those select few students who showed the least amount of spirit and most loyalty to him; Finn and Quinn for example. The others were left to rot in the back chorus line, pretending that they didn't notice the way they were being treated by their teacher, smiling and swaying on cue as to not let the facade fall. Then there were the very few who Mr Schue seemed to target specifically, allowing the other club members to rip into them without batting an eye while hitting them hard when they felt the need to stand up for themselves. The select few were basically alienated from their peers because of their teacher's lead and only kept around for the body count; these members being usually Kurt, Rachel, often enough Puckerman and even, occasionally, Santana.

For the majority of the year the New Directions would complete meaningless assignments or sit around and do nothing and with only a week or so before a competition expected to come up with a brilliant set list. They wondered how Vocal Adrenaline could perfectly execute dances in complete synchronisation when they had difficultly mastering their own simple choreography.

It were the teams like Vocal Adrenaline or the Warblers who participated in something very foreign to the New Directions; they began their competition set list rehearsals at least a few months before each competition to ensure that they were prepared to do their very best on the day. And when Rachel suggested something similar to them, she was always shut down.

"_I never realised it at the time but the sheer lack of teamwork and co-operation combined left the New Directions with very little to work with on competition days; and before my time away from McKinely did not see the stupidity the resided in the heads of the New Directions. I found it difficult to come to terms with the fact that, I too, had believed these assignments to be beneficial to our success."_

The Warblers were a family. It was as simple as that. And with open arms, just like they had with Rachel and Puck, they were waiting to accept Kurt for everything that he was, flaws and all. Kurt gladly accepted the warmth and comfort they offered and in turn opened his heart to all of the boys that had opened theirs to his.

Somehow the large congregation had started to ask Kurt questions about his life so that they could come to know him better, and in turn he began asking questions of them. Very few of the boys, though, had enough decency not to ask about his lack of a love life, the most common topic that they broached.

"So Kurt," Jeff, a junior Warbler with mischievous brown eyes, began, smirking. The rest of the club were anticipating the question, and noting down the harsh looks that Blaine was sending the blonde boy. "Do you have a boyfriend back home?"

Kurt spluttered and shook his head, choking on the intake of air that rushed into his lungs. Rachel only giggled. "Oh… um… uh… n… no… no I don't," Kurt answered eventually.

Many of the boys looked at each other in disbelief. While most of the Warblers claimed to be straight in their sexuality, they all had the tendencies to jokingly flirt, or act a certain way, around each other. "That's preposterous!" Jeff's partner in crime, Nick exclaimed, rising to his feet. "Well… do you like someone then?"

Kurt blushed deeply and ducked his head. "Maybe," he whispered.

Rachel and Puck's head shot up, sly grins on their faces and eyebrows quirked in question. "Oh really, Kurt. Who? Do we know them? Do they go to McKinely?" Rachel questioned, bouncing up and down.

"I don't feel comfortable answering that," Kurt mumbled, shrinking away from the thirty pairs of eyes trained on him, gripping onto his phone tightly. It had just buzzed with two messages from an unknown number.

**Unknown: **I hereby give you full permission to tap Blainers' ass. After much deliberation between the rest of us, who wholeheartedly agree, that you should go for him, Kurt. Do not give up when it seems that Blaine feels nothing towards you; his tendency to be a little blind to romance will be evident – and with a little persistent you will reap the rewards in the end. And although Noah is a little reluctant to share his little 'cuddle buddy' he will give you permission to share him.

**Unknown: **But be warned Kurt Hummel, if you ever so much break my dear Hobbit's heart, I will not be above chasing you down and slowly torturing you.

**Kurt: **Rachel, how did you get my number?

**Rachel: **Haven't you figured it out yet? I have many sources ;)

"Dude," David whispered to Wes, "He has it so bad for Blainers."

Wes nodded, stealing a glance at the pair, "But I think Blaine may be falling for our new resident mascot as well. I haven't seen him make those googly eyes since his crush on Daniel Radcliffe. I give them until the end of the year."

"I predict longer, you know how hopelessly oblivious our Hobbit is."

"It's on."

Eventually Kurt told the boys, and Rachel, about his latest confrontation with Karofsky. All through his tale, of surprising detail, he shook and his eyes threatened to spill with tears. He outlined how after one too many pushes in the hallway he had decided to follow the Neanderthal into the locker room and confronted him. Instead of a physical retaliation to the things he had said like he expected, Karofsky stole his first male kiss (as he had kissed Brittany last year during his 'straight' phase) and then to silence him, threatened his with violence. Kurt decided that he'd keep the threat on his life a secret for now; he didn't want anyone to over react or do anything stupid – some of the Warblers, though having only met him half an hour ago, looked about ready to drive to Lima and pummel Karofsky into the ground.

Kurt had sworn all of the boys, his threat of bodily harm directed especially towards Puck and Rachel, to a, not tell a soul that he had told them his story and b, not beat Karofsky up the next time they saw him in the school hallways. Puck had given in surprisingly easily, but Rachel, on the other hand, proved difficult to control; she was prepared to kill the Neanderthal. Which was a weird experience for Kurt all together.

It was like he had stepped into the twilight zone, or something.

However, instead of rushing out of the room, like many of the Warblers expected, Rachel shifted in her seat and scooted closer to Kurt, wrapping him into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you, Kurt," She whispered, a single tear slipping from her eyes, "We're going to be here for you from now on. I promise!"

Kurt only hugged her back, burying his head in the crook of the girl's neck. "There was nothing you could have done," he whispered, blue eyes closed.

"You don't know that," Rachel whispered quietly into his hair, like a mother comforting a child, while Kurt finally let out his emotions over the whole ordeal. His mask had finally crumbled and everyone witnessing the event was close to tears themselves – they couldn't fathom why someone would do things like that to someone as nice as Kurt. "But I can make sure Karofsky comes nowhere near you from now often."

During the emotionally charged revelation, Kurt also admitted that he felt like Mercedes was pulling away from him; especially after his refusal for her help while his dad was still unconscious from his heart attack and the whole religious debacle in Glee.

She was spending more time with Quinn these days, walking with her to class; sitting with her in the cafeteria or in Glee; generally avoiding him in the halls and on more than one occasion standing in the crowd laughing at him after a slushie – of which she hadn't experienced since her new 'BFF' relationship with Quinn had begun. Kurt was beginning to find himself alone most of the time and left to eat lunch by himself in usually the choir room or the auditorium in case one of the jocks decided to steal his lunch… again.

He was starting to dig a dangerous hole for himself, one of which he wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to crawl back out of.

Everyone was incredibly nice and not once did they ask if he were gay unless to ask for his number.

Everyone at Dalton was incredibly nice, and not once did they ask if her were gay. They didn't judge him solely on his sexual orientation. They saw him first as a person. And the only time that he was, in fact, asked about his preference was when one of the Warblers, or a passing student who came to introduce themselves, wanted to ask for his phone number.

This place was heaven. Music; the friendly, accepting student body; lack of a slushie machine; the Warblers of course; and Blaine, to name only a few features that drew Kurt to the school. Kurt could only dream of McKinely ever becoming close to anything like The Dalton Academy for Boys.

* * *

><p>At the end of the day, Kurt came home with a total of well over thirty seven phone numbers. Rachel and Puck's 'out of school numbers' and his sworn promise not to share it with anyone in the glee club; the four Warbler boy's numbers; most, if not all, of the Warbler's numbers and five other very attractive boys who seemed interesting in getting to know Kurt. It was the first time someone had ever shown any sort of interest in him.<p>

He'd also decided that he found Blaine the most attractive out of the boys who'd told him they were gay.

There were many empty coffee cups littering the Warbler Hall and its effects had already claimed Wes and David, who were bouncing around excitedly. Apparently their personalities were only enhanced upon consumption of caffeine and Thad and Rachel had to control them when they decided it would be an interesting experiment to see if either one of them could ingest three pounds of left over spaghetti in three minutes, which was collected from the cafeteria courtesy of Puck and Blaine.

The seven teenagers in the middle of the room, others had had to leave to finish homework or had broken into smaller groups around the room, passed the time chatting animatedly, bantering – mostly between Rachel and Blaine – and then started a prank war. Kurt was most surprised when Rachel pulled out twin water pistols and chased Puck around the Hall, cackling like mad. Many other boys joined the game until everyone was dripping went and wrapped up in towels they had 'borrowed' from the swimming department. Flour was also strewn all over the floor and Kurt was horrified by the amount of wet clumps were sticking to his hair. It's origin was questionable when Ethan and his friend Devon produced them from underneath the desk they were occupying.

School would certainly be interesting come tomorrow, especially with his new friends shadowing him. He was honoured that they would trust him to know who they really were, and let him in on their biggest secrets. They could provide him endless entertainment, just by watching them interact with each other. Who knew that Kurt would find himself friends with his biggest rival and old tormentor?

Maybe the Warblers would visit them, or they would go back to Dalton again. Because for the first time since his father's heart attack, Kurt saw a way out of the darkness. Not even Karofsky or the New Directions constant drama could bring him down. He was accepted into a group of friends who generally cared about how he was, instead of needing someone as protection in the hallways.

Hope was returning to his life.

"Kurt's home," Finn called out over his shoulder, towering over his step brother with a smug expression. He stayed silent, gazing at Kurt expectantly for the news that he collected during his trip to Dalton. "So…" he started, pursing his lips and bending down to be closer to Kurt. "What did you find out? What were the Warblers like? Do we have anything to worry about?"

It was in that moment that Kurt made an important decision and shook his head sadly, mock pouting. His brilliant acting skills were being put to good use. "Sorry Finn, but I couldn't get into the school to get anything; they stopped me at the gate. But I tried. I heard students talking about them though, and they said they were really good." He paused, racking his brain for a suitable lie to go with his words, "I decided to go shopping instead. See…" For added effect he held up a designer shopping bag that was looped around his arm, forgotten in the backseat of his car from his last shopping trip a week ago.

"_Finn was gullible and so he believed me."_

"Oh," The tall teenager's face fell dramatically and his shoulders slumped, "Well, that's okay I guess. Thanks anyway… I'm just going to go… play some video games." And with that he shuffled back towards the living room where his paused game of Halo was waiting for him. Kurt relaxed and his face spread into a vibrant smile.

In an instance Finn's vacated spot was filled with the warm face of Kurt's father.

"Why are you so smiley tonight, kid?" Burt asked from his position in the doorway, his iconic flannel shirt thrown haphazardly over his grease stained work shirt and tattered blue ball cap sitting firmly on his head. "I haven't seen you like this for a long time; I thought I'd lost you."

"I just…" Kurt smiled softly, his glaz eyes were gazing out the bright open window out to the sun light street. "… I had a good day."

"Would you care to elaborate, kiddo?" Burt asked, eyebrow raised in surprise. For the life of him, he couldn't think what would make Kurt so happy.

"Sometimes people aren't always what they seem," he said cryptically before disappearing up the stairs and into his room, leaving Burt to gaze after him with a dumbfounded expression expressed through his eyes and a proud smile gracing his lips.

"_It doesn't sound so important anymore; in fact it would be nothing but a meaningless trivial fact no one would listen to. But that day - that fateful day;_ _Dalton had saved a life, not that anyone would ever realise. But... that was a story for another time." _


	4. Lunchroom conversations

**Here's a new and improved version of what was chapter 3 of childhood games**

**From 4,000 or so words to 18,000… I hope you guys enjoy this, because these updates take forever to write. **

**Just a reminder that an updated character list has been included in my profile, with actors and for some, their roles in the later parts of the story :) **

**Remove the spaces **

** www . mediafire view / ?6bf5fbcqnypwkqa**

**Disclaimer: I don't own glee or the characters, just the plot and the characters you don't recognise. **

**Read and Review please!**

* * *

><p>"<em>After that fateful day at Dalton, school became a pleasure instead of a burden. I genuinely looked forward to being in the halls every morning because I knew Rachel and Noah - whenever he could get away from the other Neanderthals - would be there at my side; protecting me. They were like an odd pair of guard dogs, watching my every move and stepping in whenever some football player decided to shove 'the gay kid' into the closest row of lockers."<em>

"Kurt. Hey Kurt! Kurrrt! Are you listening to me? Kurt. Kurtie… Hey! I'll keep going until you pay attention. Kurt!"

With a heavy sigh and a barely concealed glare, Kurt pinched the bridge of his nose, slowly turning from his open locker and the notes he was glancing over to stare at Rachel, who was sadly back to wearing some atrocious combination of animal sweater and skirt. "What Rachel?" Kurt hissed through a clenched jaw, his patience running thin, "Why have you insisted on pestering me for the last…" he looked at his wrist watch, "seven minutes? What could be so important? It's too early in the morning, I've barely had four hours of sleep last night because you and Blaine insisted on texting me until three in the morning and I'm grumpy because I've already had to skip my morning moisturising routine. So what could be so important that you're willing to risk my wrath?"

Rachel blinked at him, seemingly unaffected by the taller boy's sharp outburst. "Kurt! Good. I have your attention." She beamed up at him, ignoring the withering glare being directed towards her. "Do you have the History notes from the last class? Noah and I were in Westerville."

"History? That's what you've wanted to ask me?" Kurt raised an eyebrow, struggling to keep a cool head. He was irritable and tired and wanted to just curl back into bed with a steaming hot mug of his favourite jasmine tea.

Rachel nodded and pouted, "I missed them and we have that test coming up soon. I'll return them in perfect condition once I'm done copying them, I promise." Kurt didn't look convinced so she added with the appropriate hand gesture, "Scout's honour."

"You were never a scout, Rachel," Puck commented dryly with a smirk as he approached them in his varsity letterman jacket, looking between the two divas. Reluctantly, he shrugged the jacket off of his shoulders and handed it over to an expectant Rachel, who quickly pulled it one, swimming in the huge item. "Whatever she wants Hummel, don't give it to her." Puck smirked. "Rach doesn't always give things back in the same condition in which you gave them to her."

"One time, Noah. It was one time." Rachel protested feverishly, "And I apologised for destroying your hockey stick, which is more than what you can say for Wes, who was the one who actually took it in the first place. It was an accident!"

"You broke his hockey stick?" Kurt stared at them.

"It was last year!" Rachel shrieked, glaring. "Let it go, Noah."

"How did you break it, Rachel?" Kurt asked curiously, eyes wide with stunned wonder.

"Incident involving the stick, a tree, an alarm clock, a bottle of milk and a goldfish. It's better not too ask about these things," Puck scowled, remembering that particular morning in the Dalton courtyard with a shudder. At least no one had been hurt… that time.

It was third period, right before lunch for the trio and they all had a study, which Rachel was going to use to re-explain the Dalton quadratic homework to Puck, and help Kurt work on his geography assignment. She had taken the course last year at Dalton, and quite frankly, even then the class was at least twice as hard. McKinely operated at an elementary school level in comparison to the classes at Dalton, and it was a mystery as to how the school was still operating at this level.

No one ever noticed the absences of Rachel Berry and Noah Puckerman in their classes, on the days that they headed over to Dalton (which was about three days a week). No one even raised an eyebrow when juvenile delinquent Puck skipped school and Rachel's fathers had told the school that on these days Rachel was looking after her sick, elderly grandmother. As long as she stayed up to date and handed in all of her assignments on time McKinley ultimately didn't care where the headstrong diva was during the day. So the pair participated in both Dalton and McKinley curriculums – where most of their efforts were poured into the former's classes.

William Schuster continuously liked to encourage his students to work hard on the assignments he had designated for the week, so that they may effectively take his lessons to heart. However, it was very uncommon for any of the New Direction members to take the assignments seriously; once they had a song picked out to sing they did their own thing for the rest of the week – constituting to the drama that seemed to plague the club. Take now, for example. The boys had told their choir director that they would be using this time to practise their mash-up, however…

The New Direction boys passed the trio gathered around Kurt's locker. Finn stopped first, digging in his heels so that the others crashed into his behind. Naturally he was the leader; the others followed his lead and were thus all trailing behind him. Whoever decided that Finn was capable of leading effective was obviously having some mental break down at the time, because more often than not he did absolutely nothing unless he gained something and did anything he could to protect his own reputation over those he supposedly called teammates. "Puckerman," he grunted, "We're going to ditch working on our glee assignment for burgers, you in?" Finn eyes Puck sceptically, as if daring him to refuse, but plastered his trademark dopey smile on his face.

Puck looked at Finn and then Rachel and back again, shaking his head in mock disappointment, when really he was pleased to be rid of the boys for the afternoon. "Hummel and Rachel here promised to tutor me. I have to get my grades up if I want to keep playing football. You know what coach is like; if I don't maintain a C average I'll be kicked off of the team."

Some of the guys chuckled and sent Puck sympathetic looks while others groaned and whispered back and forth. "Damn, yo. Alone time with Rachel, he's gonna kill her before lunch even starts." The voice sounded a lot like Artie's.

Rachel scowled but generally ignored their comments as they jostled each other all the way down the corridor and away from the three teenagers, who watched in displeasure as the group departed. Just because she was a little over bearing around them didn't give them the right to treat her like the rest of the school treated the club. Weren't they meant to be their own little family?

As the boys left the building laughing at the misfortune their teammate had to suffer through, Sam, who was withdrawn and refusing to partake in the attacks at Rachel because he believed it to be wrong and kind of cruel, knocked the shoulder of a tall boy with a dark hood shadowing his face. "Watch it," the boy snarled with venom in his tone before stalking away. He had been eavesdropping on the boys and didn't like what he was hearing. Sam looked at his retreating form for a moment before shrugging, exiting the building with the others.

Puck turned back to Kurt reluctantly, groaning. "We should probably start with that math."

"Noah, you're good at math. Relax a little, let's have a little fun." Rachel said matter of-factly, smiling slightly, looping her arm through Kurt's. "I was hoping Kurt could teach me some French. I've always wanted to go to France. You know, I know someone in France. He moved before high school and forgot to mention it to me. But I still miss him. We talk sometimes. He wants to take me to France but neither of us have the money. The food there is simply divine. Well I don't know that personally, but I've been told it's divine. To _hell_ with watching what I eat. I want to learn French so I can go to France and eat the divine –"

"Rach!" Puck interrupted, tapping Rachel's shoulder to return her to the world of the living. Rachel blinked up at him. "You're rambling again."

Rachel flushed a deep scarlet and ducked her head. "Sorry. It's a bad habit I guess."

* * *

><p>Text books were littered all around them, scattered across tables, flung across the room and one was even balanced precariously over the back of a chair. The three teenagers had their heads buried in various subject materials while they whispered back and forth, asking questions or explaining certain pieces of information. Small balls of rolled up paper were scattered around them and the table they occupied (and the few neighbouring ones), the evidence of a flick football game Puck and Rachel had tried to teach to Kurt. While Kurt never really mastered the game, they ended up dissolving into an all-out paper ball fight, throwing the offending objects at each other unmercifully.<p>

Occasionally they would confer with each other when they needed help, or just wanted a break. It seemed that Kurt and Puck, though they got along, fought like children more than Rachel did with Blaine – or Wes did with Thad for that matter. It was very amusing to watch.

Puck pushed his glasses up his nose with a grin as he watched Rachel out handstand Kurt, the hem of her skirt clasped between her legs to stop it falling down. Kurt huffed, but was swaying slightly on his feet when the boy flipped right-side up again. Suddenly the world was spinning and Kurt was falling. Puck immediately caught him around the waist before he fell and handed him an opened bottle of water, urging him to drink it. Kurt smiled and nodded as Puck helped him to sit on the ground, gratefully sipping the liquid, already feeling less dizzy.

They may have gotten a little distracted somewhere along the line.

"Thought you were a Cheerio, Hummel. Doesn't Sue make them stand on their heads for an hour or something?" Puck looked at the boy curiously, shivering at mention to the scary cheerleading coach. There was no chance in hell that he'd ever cross the woman more than he needed too; because simply being in glee seemed to put him on her radar.

"It was to build stamina," Kurt signed. "But that was least year; I haven't really been practising since I quit the team… How are you able to stay like that for twenty minutes Rachel?"

"Cooper used to hold me like this for hours when I was younger," Rachel grinning, flipping right side up, fluffing up her hair. At his confusion, Rachel elaborated. "Coop's Blaine's older brother. He's at UCLA in California, but he comes home for the weekend. You'd like him… maybe. If he doesn't scare you off on the first meeting."

Kurt nodded with an eyebrow cocked; his face soft and relaxed as he imagined a little Rachel being carried around by sibling of Blaine. Puck rested back in his chair, his arms crossed casually over her chest while a trademark smirk spread across his face. "We should work on your fitness," Puck teased playfully, ignoring the mock glare being directed towards him, "Didn't you used to have abs, Kurt?"

The boy sneered and pulled up the hem of his shirt to show his flat, toned stomach briefly. "I'll have you know, Noah, that I still have them." Kurt snapped back, grinning at Rachel's wolf whistle. "A careful dieting regime and a nightly run have kept me in shape since I quit the Cheerios." They fully lapsed into a playful banter that was common among the normal group of friends. Somehow Puck ended up sitting on Kurt's chest (while Rachel made comments about how hot and homoerotic they were being) until Kurt conceded into joining him and the Dalton boys on their weekly trips to the local gym, only so they could show him other ways of exercising without all of the careful dieting.

The bantering did not let up, however, and Rachel settled herself in one of the chairs, leaning back against the table so that she could quite clearly watch the ongoing war between one of her newest and oldest friends. As Puck was threatening to burn the entirety of Kurt's scarf collection after the brunette made a spiteful comment, four shadows were looming just outside the door, bickering themselves.

"Shhhhhh," hissed one of the shadows as another howled in pain, pulling him back behind the doorway before they were spotted by the unaware trio in the room. "Do you want to ruin the surprise? All this careful planning will have gone to waste."

His friend glared harshly, hopping on one foot, clutching the other in his hands and cursing under his breath. "You try banging your foot on the doorframe and not want to hiss in pain. I'll tell you –"

"Quit being a baby Davie," smirked another, leaning against the wall with a roll of his eyes.

"Shut up, Thad."

The shortest of the shadows simply sighed and smacked his three friends on the back of the head. "All of you, focus! Let's go." And with those few words the other three fell into step behind their curly haired friend as he stalked into the study hall when Rachel, Puck and Kurt were none the wiser to their arrival.

All of the shadows were wearing normal clothes in order to blend in with the rest of the student body at McKinley, rather than dressing in their usual day to day attire of blazers and ties. The leader cleared his throat, demanding the attention of the others in the room, who all snapped their attention to the invaders. Kurt looked at them and smiled brightly, while Puck and Rachel's faces broke into huge grins at the sight of their best friends, bracing themselves as Wes and David launched onto their backs.

The two boys were dressed in casual khaki shorts and t-shirts depicting rock bands and slogans, normal for their out of Dalton wardrobe. Wes favoured a Pink Floyd design whereas David had opted for a shirt that simply read, '_Haters Gonna Hate'._ Thad adorned a mostly bad boy inspired, black collection, with his grey beanie, ripped jeans, two black bandanas tied around his left wrist and completed with a worn leather jacket thrown over a tight fitting white shirt. Finally, there was Blaine. Even out of his uniform he persisted to look dapper and well groomed in his green and white striped sweated vest over a tight fitting white shirt and matching deep green bow tie. His jeans, however, both contradicted and complimented his 'good boy' image; they were skinny leg and tight fitting with a pair of black suspenders hanging loosely from the belt loops. The only difference between his appearance at Dalton was that his hair was no longer cemented to his scalp with a ridiculous amount of hair gel.

"_I realised why I never would have recognised them before on their previous trips. When I met them at Dalton I saw the uniformity that the blazer brought and didn't appreciate fully their individuality. They could have been there every day for my entire school career and I still wouldn't have recognised them."_

"Wessy!" Rachel cried, swaying slightly from the weight added to her back but otherwise standing straight and strong. "You're early! We were expecting you for halfway through lunch."

Wes wrapped his legs tightly around Rachel's waist to cement himself onto her back and avoid falling the short distance to the floor. Despite what Blaine the-human-spider-monkey would say gravity was not their friend and even though Rachel was rather short, hitting the ground could be dangerous. Leaning his head on her shoulder, he said, "The traffic was reasonable and Mr Garret let us out of class early. We just had to come earlier and see you."

"You saw us last night," Rachel said, gripping his arm. With a playful tone she added, "You just wanted to get here early so you could get some of the pizza they're serving in the cafeteria today."

"No," Wes weakly protested with a smirk. "… Okay, you got us. But, pizza! You know how I feel about pizza!"

Rachel only hummed but didn't comment. "So what are we doing after lunch?" Thad asked a little over enthusiastically from where he was sitting on top of the table that the trio had been using to study at, kicking his legs back and forth like a small child.

David looked expectantly at Puck from his back, tapping the top of his head with a grin, "Yeah, Noah, what are we doing this afternoon?"

Puck shrugged, "Whatever, you can pick. But first let's eat, I'm starving."

Wes and David high fives each other from their personal steeds while Puck babbled on about the daily specials in the cafeteria. Food was food and boys were boys; the two things went together as well as peanut butter and jelly. The boys, and Rachel, were known for their ability to eat through anything that was set down in front of them. It was ridiculous how much food one of their houses had to have in stock for a night over playing video games or watching movies; an activity spent more afternoons than not.

"I second that," David chimed, swaying on top of Puck's back. The dark skinned boy smiled brightly at Rachel, who rolled her eyes at all of the boys that were thinking about their empty stomachs. "We forgot to eat before we left."

Blaine cast him a sidelong glance from where he was ever so cautiously creeping closer to Kurt's side, keeping one hazel eye on the brunette and the other on his insane friends. "You guys pretty much inhaled almost a kilo of chips, three ham sandwiches, a box of donuts and an entire family sized bag of skittles before we left, how are you still hungry? I should be the one complaining since you and Wes wouldn't share with me and Thad in the car."

"You were driving, and Thad was navigating," Wes rationalised, nodding his head in a sage like manor. "And we're still hungry, Blainey!"

Puck nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah Blainey, we're still hungry." He mimicked, choosing to ignore the withering looks Rachel and Kurt were sending him. From the very corner of his eye he could see the shapes of Tina and Mercedes standing outside the study hall, staring at them in disbelief; having halted their migration to the cafeteria to witness the strange sights that were going on inside the empty room. But one glare from Puck sent them scurrying away, averting their gazes as quickly as they could.

"Mush, Noah!" David called from Puck's back, kicking him in the ribs, much to the boy's displeasure.

Wes grinned, but refrained from kicking in fear of Rachel's wrath. "Yes, Rachie, we must ride to the cafeteria!"

"I am not your personal horse, Davie." Puck huffed, dragging Thad out the door with him. Rachel was left with the task of carting all of their books back to their lockers, who simply handed them to the boy continuing to sit on her back like a pack mule. Wes looked displeased but didn't complain because he was after all, using Rachel as a horse.

Rachel looked back at Kurt and Blaine with a soft and affectionate smile, the two boys were within touching distance of each other as they leant up against the table. "Are you guys coming, or would you rather me and Wes try and save you some seats?"

"Blaine, you know Noah will eat your share if you don't hurry," Wes added helpfully, earning him a scowl.

Blaine waved them both away, stealing a glance at Kurt and mouthed, "One moment."

Rachel was the first to catch on, while Wes was a little slower on the uptake. Blaine wanted to spend a few minutes alone with Kurt before they were both subjected to the insanity that was lunch with the Dalton boys, and neither could blame him. She had to admit; the pair made a very cute together and would make an even cuter couple. Now, she just had to devise a plan with Thad or Noah to get them together; Blaine was terribly oblivious when it came to matters of the heart and Rachel didn't want to see Kurt get hurt because of that. "I'll tell Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dummer when we see them that you'll be a little late. Thad probably won't care." Rachel flounced to the door, or as best she could with a Wes riding on her back loaded with books. Turning with a wink she added, "And Kurt, despite what he says, Noah's proud to see you happy again. Even though we're only really starting to get to know you, we've always wanted to see you happy. You're a teammate and deserve it."

As the pair left for the cafeteria the distinct voice of Wes asked, "Which Tweedle am I, Rach?"

The tinkling sound of Rachel's sing-song laughter could be heard before she replied, "Oh, Wes, you're Tweedle-dumbest of course." There was a clear slap before the pair disappeared completely.

* * *

><p>The study hall was left in a comfortable silence, the two boys left alone were just enjoying the nearness of each other; both unsure of how to start a conversation. They enjoyed just listening to the other breathe steadily or hearing the sounds of other students moving to get food in the hall way. Kurt was the first to break the silence, idly commenting with a slight blush rising to his cheeks, "You look very dapper today, Blaine. I can certainly see why you belong at Dalton, but you should leave your hair out more."<p>

Blaine grimaced and tugged at an offending curl. "No way, these things are pure evil. I hate them with a passion."

Absentmindedly playing with some of Blaine's hair, Kurt mused, "I like them, they give you this rugged entrepreneur kind of look."

Blaine rolled his eyes, "They're still evil," he muttered more for himself than Kurt, who sent him a quizzical look. Looking up Blaine's face brightened as he plastered charming smile number four onto his face, "Would you be offended if I said you're also looking quite dashing today, Mr Hummel."

Kurt had been glad that Puck hadn't been the last to leave or he'd be hearing about it for the rest of his life, although, Rachel's wink and Wes' knowing looks just made him blush even harder when Blaine moved closer to help him pack all of his things up. "Well," he paused for dramatic effect, "I did spend thirty minutes coordinating my outfit this morning. Rachel gives surprisingly good advice, if only I could get her to dress better at school."

"Of course you did." There was a pause, "Well with her dad she's picked up a thing or two. I may be gay, but I have absolutely no fashion sense outside of my uniform so I wear whatever she tells me too most days. But, you know what it's like for her here at McKinely." Blaine's voice dipped to a whisper, as if he was telling him a big secret, "Don't tell her I told you so, but Rachel hates the animal sweaters, she just can't risk getting all of her good clothes ruined by slushies."

Kurt's jaw hit the floor, but he recovered quickly to maintain some of his dignity. "I would never have guessed with how she goes on about them sometimes, but I see sense in her reasoning."

Blaine simply shrugged and plopped into one of the unoccupied seats, resting his elbows on the table so that he could stare up at Kurt. "So what did you think of Dalton, yesterday?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Dalton was… Dalton was absolutely amazing," Kurt considered with wide eyes, looking at Blaine with awe for even broaching the subject of the school. "I've never been to a place like it before, where I felt like I would fit in for just being me, you know? In all the time that I was there and the boys I met, nobody really cared that I was gay or sounded like a girl or even the fact that I was clearly there to spy on the Warblers. And I've never felt like that before with anyone other than my dad."

"What about the New Directions?" Blaine asked with a tilt of his head, lifting it slightly from his knuckles to look at his companion. The lives and drama of the New Directions were often retold for the Warblers to hear during the times Rachel and Puck visited Dalton, spurring to their beliefs that the New Directions were one of the most dysfunctional, detrimental, environments within McKinely. Though they liked to preach about the topic, they were the farthest thing from a family by any and all definitions.

A pause settled between the pair as Kurt attempted to put to words his feelings on his glee club teammates. Blaine was patient and allowed Kurt the time to think, smiling gently; reassuringly. Finally, with a heavy sigh and down turned eyes, he replied, "Sometimes I wonder how we even tolerate each other on the best of days. One slight mistake and suddenly the entire club hates you and rumours spread like wildfire if you do something with another member of the glee club, no matter your sexuality. I can't feel comfortable hanging out with the boys because they all seem to think of me like the rest of the boys in this school, only they think they hide it a little better; Noah excluded off course." Kurt chuckled but Blaine remained reassuring and gentle, his reactions hidden behind a careful mask. "And the girls don't really like me hanging around them all the time, because… well I'm not a girl. I guess it'll get better now that I have Rachel and Noah in my corner, but they're hardly the most liked people in the club. It's all about images and reputations in the New Directions. If I had the kind of money you did to be able to afford the tuition at Dalton I'd be out of McKinely so fast that not even Gucci could persuade me to stay."

The sharpness in the air was heavy and thick, smothering the room like a wet blanket. By now the hallways were devoid of other students, all were in the cafeteria eating lunch or hanging outside in the courtyard with their friends, leaving the two boys to their conversation. Blaine frowned slightly and reached out for Kurt's hand, gently massaging the other boy's palm with his thumb. "You could always look into getting an academic scholarship, Dalton offers them for a range of subjects; or apply for a transfer regarding your safety if you wanted to explain your bullying to the school board. They take the economic situation these students are in and make necessary arrangements. But that'd be a last resort… Rachel's told us enough about each of the New Directions for me to know that you're incredibly talented and get excellent grades. Look at a music scholarship or something, you'd fit right in."

"Diva did what now?" was the astonished response from Kurt, his questioning gaze boring into Blaine. The latter only gripped Kurt's hand tighter with a knowing smile. Kurt couldn't seriously believe that Rachel would have told her friends and the Warblers so much about the New Directions, let alone the positive things she seemed to have said about him, even though he'd been pretty horrible to her the previous year.

With a slight shrug of the shoulder Blaine nodded. He stole a sip from Kurt's unfinished coffee, swallowing thickly at the incredibly bitter brew, wincing slightly. He preferred coffee with at least a little sugar or cinnamon in it to mask the over powering coffee taste; Kurt obviously didn't share this opinion though. With a mock offended scowl, Kurt snatched his coffee back with the hand not intertwined with Blaine's and urged the other boy to elaborate. The shorter boy compiled with a sigh, "Rachel likes to vent about the New Directions, and how they treat her. I know what you're thinking, and no, she never complained about the lack of recognition her voice got. She'd complain about the actual bullying she'd receive – the taunts, the looks and even, in some cases, the shoves." That caught Kurt's attention, because last year he'd been so annoyed by the front Rachel put up that he hadn't even noticed that some of the girls (Quinn) were getting physical with her. Blaine continued steadily, his face now a sombre mask. "Or she'd berate Noah for, and I quote, 'helping his garish football teammates in tormenting the boy who looked like a bigger diva than she did just to keep his reputation up.' Now… that was an interesting sight, Noah looked like a scared puppy when Rachel started yelling in Hebrew. She can be a little abrasive when she's scared, but really, Rachel's a good person."

"I can see that now," Kurt breathed, "I wish that I'd seen it soon."

"I think Wes and David put it on tape, but they won't tell me where they've hidden it, in case Rachel ever finds out." Blaine shrugged again, "She's a good actor, and Noah is too. They don't let too many people in on their personal worlds, but when they do they're two of the most loyal people you'll have ever met. You should feel honoured that they chose to open up to you, last year they swore that the New Directions would never get to see that side of them."

"I really do, they're great friends to have by my side, but… you're not so bad yourself, Blaine." Kurt giggled, freeing his hand eventually, from Blaine's grasp so he could finish packing up his momentarily forgotten books.

Kurt received no answer but was pleased when Blaine picked up half of his books, lightening his load slightly and taking up his hand again. The Dalton boy's grip was strong and warm, his fingers were calloused from years of playing the guitar but it didn't bother Kurt. Their hands seemed to fit together like a jigsaw, and if the goofy smile on Blaine's face was anything to read off, he felt similar. "We should probably go and meet the others," Blaine said after a moment, "Before they think we ran off together or something."

Kurt nodded firmly, leading Blaine out of the study hall, "You're right. And we really don't want Noah eating your share of food, do we?"

The two boys chuckled all the way down the hall, hand in hand

* * *

><p>"I swear, if you don't get off of me soon Wes, I'll drop you on the ground." Rachel scowled, coming through the crowded cafeteria doors.<p>

Wes was still riding on her back, using the vantage point to scan over the many teenagers to find his friends like a submarine both being too short to be able to effectively scan over the room themselves. They had made a stop by Rachel's locker on the way to the cafeteria to free him from the heavy load of books that they were carrying, freeing up the use of both of Wes' hands. The room was already hot, crowded and incredibly noisy. Most of the tables were taken up by various cliques and groups; the cheerleaders and footballers were close together in the main area of the room while other popular sports teams spread out not far away. A few teachers watched the student body from another table along the back wall, mostly ignoring the teenagers in favour of their own work; but it was a legal requirement that they were there to act as adult supervision.

Tina and Mercedes had scuttled into the cafeteria after the glare from Puck, carrying trays with their lunch to one of the out of the way tables in the back, amidst the band geeks and drama club as they gossiped with hushed voices. They cast another quick glance in Rachel's direction when she arrived but a harsh glare from both the girl in question and Puck shut them up before they could speak a word, turning back to their lunches.

"I found them!" Wes chimed, tapping on the top of Rachel's head to gain her attention. He was pointing over her shoulder and proclaimed, "To the end of the lunch line we ride!"

With a huff and roll of her eyes, Rachel let go of Wes' legs, dropping him to the floor and stalking off. "I warned you, Wes. But you never listen…" she snickered as she disappeared into the throng of teenagers in search of her best friends, leaving Wes to pout and groan.

The oriental boy quickly picked himself up and hurried after his tiny friend, not wishing to lose her in the crowd. Using his elbows to push people out of the way, Wes barely caught up to Rachel just as she reached Puck, David and Thad with enough food on their trays to feed a small army. David handed Wes the second tray in his hand, much to the other boy's delight, as his stomach chose that moment to grumble loudly for all to hear. Unfazed, Wes grinned, "Davie, you're my hero. Did you know that?"

David hummed in response, smirking back.

Thad diligently handed Rachel the apple that was precariously balancing on top of his tray with a smile, who smiled back and took the fruit before he lost his grip on the unsteady tray completely and found it all over his clothes.

"Thanks, Thaddy," Rachel beamed, leading the little group to an unoccupied table in the very back corner of the cafeteria, out of the way of most footballers but still bathed in the sun streaming through the bay windows that the table was nestled against.

Rachel sat between Puck and Wes, using the opportunity to steal some of the cookies Puck had grabbed despite the boy's half-hearted protests against her actions. Rachel normally stole food from everyone around her, and many of the boys, present or at Dalton, allowed her to do so only because they loved her like a sister. Sighing in defeat to a smug Rachel, Puck returned to his conversation with Wes about an episode of Desperate Housewives that they had both watched the previous night. Where Wes proudly allowed himself to be subjected to the endless teasing that followed every time he brought up his near obsession with the soap opera, Puck liked to retain some dignity and told everyone that his ma and little sister made him sit through the episodes during dinner, even though it was evident to his friends that the tough looking boy secretly enjoyed watching the show.

Their daily lunch arrangement was planned meticulously so that the little group was able to eat together most days. They would alternate the destination depending on the lunch menu at either school or where they were attending classes that day. It just wasn't lunch without eating together, even though some days Puck would be called away by the football team when they ate at McKinely, leaving Rachel alone with the Warblers. Dalton was always the preferred option because they could sit with the rest of the Warblers, who provided endless entertainment with the chaos that seemed to follow them around wherever they went.

"So," Rachel began, banging her fist on the table, startling the boys to attention. "Kurt and Blaine are alone together. I hope we're all in agreement here that although they would make a sickeningly cute couple, they would be good for each other. As much as it pains me to admit this, but both of them need someone other than just us and the Warblers in their lives; we know Blaine's dated before, but Kurt's never even met another openly gay guy before other than Karofsky and this is all new for him."

All of the boys stared at Rachel, calculating her statement in their own minds. Puck was the first to break the silence, "I think Rachel's right," he flashed his friend a smile, "Blaine needs someone else in his life after last year and the whole Kingsley fiasco. He deserves someone who won't break his heart. Kurt needs some happiness too, he goes through shit at McKinely and even through his acting you can see that he's not handling it well."

"But on the other hand," David countered calmly, "Blaine could very well end up breaking Kurt's heart. You know what he's like and how oblivious he can be."

Wes nodded, stuffing a bite of pizza into his mouth and swallowing. "With the right hints and a couple of nudges supplied by us we could guide them together without too much heartbreak for either of them."

"We don't want to set them up with too much interference though," Thad argued from where he sat between Wes and David, pointing his fork of mashed potatoes in Wes and David's direction. Droplets of white mush were splattered across the two boy's faces.

"Hey, watch it," snarled Wes, flicking some peas in Thad's general direction in retaliation.

"Guys!" Rachel snapped, just as Thad was about to return flick some left over cheese from his pizza at Wes that would only lead to an all-out food war. Normally, she would be encouraging the behaviour, but they were trying to have a serious discussion. "Get back on topic; we need to decide what we're going to do about Klaine."

Puck groaned playfully, looking at Rachel with a raised brow, "Klaine seriously, Rach? You've given them a couple name already?"

Rachel shrugged and grinned, "They're going to get together some time, it's inevitable, I just thought I'd call dibs on their couple name early before anyone at Dalton got in before me."

The boys all hummed in amused acknowledgement, the competitions to name new couples around Dalton was almost a bigger event than Blaine watching. Rachel smiled innocently as she nibbled a little more on the half eaten apple in her hand, smug at her achievement while the boys rolled their eyes at her expression as they knew that this small victory would be held over their heads for at least the next couple of months.

"Now who's getting distracted," quipped Thad with a smirk, ducking the apple core that was directed for his head. "Seriously, guys, should Kurt and Blaine decide to get together we can't force them too much. We need to let them do it in their own time; otherwise we could end up seriously hurting both of them."

"We need to find the right balance of interference," Puck added, throwing in his 'two cents'. Past experience resulted in disaster after one of their schemes backfired on them. "Operation Klaine needs to be subtle enough so they don't think we're meddling, because we all know Blaine will be a little suspicious, but they still need to pick up on some of the hints we give them."

"I'll second Noah's idea –" Just as Rachel was about to make a return comment her phone buzzed, vibrating from where it was placed next to Puck's lunch tray. Curiously she held up a finger in a _hold that thought_ gesture a she checked the message sent to her by Blaine.

**Hobbit: **Kurt and I are on our way to the cafeteria now. This is a heads up; because I know you guys are talking about us.

Rachel only smiled and shook her head, reading the text aloud so all of the boys would know what had her smiling. "How does he know us so well?" she murmured.

Wes shrugged, chewing thoughtfully on another mouthful of pizza. "He has been basically stalking us since we were five, Rach. He's like a damn puppy who follows us around; tiny and adorable but incredibly difficult to get rid of." He said after swallowing, a piece of stringy cheese dangling from the corner of his mouth.

"Before they get here, we still need to place our bets," David whined, looking at his best friends with a knowing smile. "We can't pass up this opportunity; and if we don't start it ourselves someone in the Warblers will and we all know how that'll end."

"As a school wide debate," Wes nodded. The boy pulled out his wallet from his pocket and slapped down a fifty dollar note onto the table, looking up with a very serious expression on his face. "I give them a month."

"I'm in," Thad grinned, pulling out another bill to match Wes' proposal. He considered his options carefully, tapping the table with the bottom of his fork as he thought, before finally replying, "I'm guessing that it'll be around Christmas when they get together. All that mistletoe and holiday cheer is sure to spark something on the Klaine front."

Puck grunted, frowning at Thad. "You took my bet…" He grumbled, crossing his arms and contributing his own money to the pile. The group had a rule that only one member could bet on each element, so to speak in this case, so Puck had to weigh up another time. After much mental deliberation Puck said, "Sectionals, definitely. One of us is bound to win and to congratulate the other… well you know." He winked.

Rachel shook her head but couldn't help herself, adding to the growing pile of fifty dollar notes. She and her friends were impervious to the curious glances that they were receiving from other students at nearby tables as they so casually bet on Kurt and Blaine's relationship. "Blaine's so oblivious that it'll be at least Regionals when they finally manage to sort themselves out. Sure, Kurt can be a little inexperienced in love and can be impatient, but he'll be waiting for Blaine to make the first move. Kurt's a romantic like that."

David grinned at all of them, finally fishing through his pocket to retrieve the stray bill that was scrunched in his back pocket. Shrugging he said, "But Rachie, you forget that Blaine's also a romantic. He also has some class. He'll be waiting for the right moment to make his move his crush. Valentine's Day would be perfect and romantic and all that. Just you wait and see."

"Now hide the money," Rachel hissed, snatching the pool of money that had been collected in the centre of the table, stuffing it into the pocket on the side of her skirt much to the complaints to the other boys. "I think I just saw them come in through the doors. We are not to speak a word of this to either Kurt or Blaine. And remember… Operation Klaine is a go!"

* * *

><p>One of the designated staff members on duty for that certain afternoon was William Schuster. The cafeteria watch was considered the short straw to any of the staff at McKinely, who couldn't wait to get away from the students they had to deal with in their classes. They didn't want to see them during their precious lunch breaks as well. But legal requirements had at least one to two staff members supervising each day. Most days were the same, the staff would watch, uninterested, as adolescents gossiped about mundane problems over red plastic trays or the footballers would attempt unsuccessfully to hit on the apathetic Cheerios.<p>

Schue was not particularly happy about being forced into the position today as he sullenly buried his nose in a rather large stack of Spanish papers that he hadn't finished grading. He had many other things to do; he could be sitting in the teacher's lounge with Emma and Bieste had he not been signed up for cafeteria watch. But nevertheless he was sitting with one of his colleagues, whom he had never had a proper conversation with, playing with the droopy lettuce in his stale sandwich.

From his table, Schue could see the various Glee girls sitting with their respective friends and social groups. Brittany, Santana and Quinn were quite happily talking to some of the other Cheerios, sipping from the mandated tumblers Sue fed them daily; while Tina and Mercedes shuffled passed with nothing more than a quick glance as they discussed the importance of their preferred fashions or other such unimportant topics. The boys, Schue noted, were absent from the crowded, stuffy room and he hoped that they were using their time productively to work on their glee assignment.

Puck was the first of his male students to appear in the cafeteria, dashing his hopes that they had, in fact, been rehearsing together. Yet, the other New Direction guys were still missing as Puck was enthusiastically talking to a group of boys that Schue was unfamiliar with, grinning brightly without so much as a trace of his trademark smirk while a pair of wire frame glasses were perched on the end of his nose. None of the three boys that he was walking alongside were on any of the sports team or from the band, Schue would remember them if they were in any of those. Figuring Puck had forgotten his contact lenses that day he didn't think too much of the glasses and rationalised that he didn't recognise the boys because they had never taken Spanish before, like a large number of the student body at McKinley. They were all carrying an incredibly large amount of food, laughing at a joke one of the boys had made and the short Spanish looking one marginally escaped losing his balance, potentially sending food all over the ground.

It was when Rachel appeared with an Asian boy trailing behind her, mumbling under his breath, that Schue really became confused. The usually overbearing girl had a genuine broad smile plastered on her face as she took an apple balancing on top of the Spanish boy's tray, easily joining the three boys' previous conversation as if she had been there all along. Schue was so caught up in staring at Rachel that he missed when the dark skinned boy diligently handed the other tray in his hand to the Asian with a grin, much to the others delight.

Rather than sitting with the other footballers in the room, Puck paid them no attention, preferring to slide into an unoccupied table in the back corner of the room, never once breaking their conversations or stride.

The little group was getting a little strange, and highly confusing, for Schue. He'd already come up with reasonable explanations as to why Puck was wearing his glasses and the appearance of unfamiliar boys. What really threw him was the simple fact that Rachel Berry and Noah Puckerman were acting as friends… close friends. While he'd admit he didn't really like the self-centred, opinionated diva most of the time, and probably treated her a little less than fair in comparison to some of the other New Directions, the last time he checked Puckerman couldn't stand to be around Rachel.

Curiously, Schue watched their interactions a little more than he should when he was supposed to be grading Spanish papers, looking as inconspicuous as possible. However, his fellow teacher, an older middle-aged woman with long, curly black hair that was peppered with the presence of grey hairs and a pair of thick black glasses that were much too big for her nose, looked up at him from her Chemistry notes with a frown. "William, what are you looking at? What is it?" She asked, carefully placing her pen on the table top.

"Those boys with Puckerman," Schue directed her attention to the strange little group laughing over their ridiculous amounts of food. "I've known Puck for a while now, but I've never seen him hang out with anyone other than the other football guys. Do you know who they are?"

His companion nodded somewhat reluctantly, "You mean the boys that seem to be here one day and disappear the next?"

"Yeah, those ones," Will grunted, picking at his sandwich a little, not really in the mood to eat anymore.

"Figgins told me not to ask too many questions about then, but they take my Chemistry class every now and then." The woman explained, folding her arms across her chest. "All four of them are incredibly bright boys and are at a higher learning level than most of my other students, Miss Berry excluded of course, but they seem content to learn the things I'm teaching. They're quite charming, actually, and never make any sort of trouble when they do show up for class. I've heard some of the other faculty feel the same way." Her voice ducked to a whisper as she beckoned Schuster to lean in a little closer, "and I have on good authority that Sue Sylvester likes them."

"Impossible," Blanched Schue, shaking his head fervently in protest. Sue didn't like anyone in the school, much less any of the student body. He was one of the people who knew Sue the best, or so he thought, there was absolutely no way that the cheerleading coach would willingly associate with any of the kids any more than she had too.

"It's true," confirmed the Chemistry teacher. Schue couldn't remember her name but recognised her to be one of the softer spoken teachers that had always been indifferent to the glee club. "But," her brow furrowed as she stole a quick glance at the boys who were now caught up in some kind of debate or bet, if the money that was accumulating in the table was any surprise; the amount of cash only added to the puzzle. "There's usually one other boy with them, shorter and curly haired; his name is Blaine."

"Blaine," Schue tested the name out, but shook his head. "I still haven't heard of them before. I know what Rachel is like from personal experience; I'm concerned that she's being pressured by Puck or these boys into giving them what they want. Rachel craves attention of any kind and doesn't have many friends. I don't want her to give into these boys just to be acknowledged. We all know about the reputation Puck carries around this town; he may just be using her. I can't afford to have another scandal break out in Glee, not so close to competition time."

The chemistry teacher listened with pursed lips, tapping her pen rhythmically against her note pad while Schue talked. When he'd finished she replied calmly, "I realise Miss Berry isn't well liked among the majority of the student body because of her occasional abrasive nature, but those boys seem to be her friends for reasons other than what you may be suggesting, William. I've seen them together during my classes, they sit near each other when they show up for classes and work very well as a unit during practicals. Seem pretty close too. It wouldn't surprise me if they were some of her only friends, but you're suggesting that they're only using her for other things. There has never been any evidence of this, at least not in my class."

"Look," Schue sighed patiently, "I've gotten to know pretty well over the last year and a bit, she's never so much as given any inclination that she has had any friends what so ever outside Glee."

"Maybe you don't know your students as well as you think you do, Will," she hummed with a somewhat amused smile on her face. There was no hiding that sometimes William Schuster thought he was one of the best teachers in the school, and ever since the Glee Club was restored his ego had grown considerable. Now, she wasn't one to judge people without getting to know them, but sometimes Schuster annoyed her. It was obvious that he played favourites to some of his students and left the others to fend for themselves; Rachel Berry (who was one of her brightest and most considerate students) being one of them.

"Something just doesn't fell rig-" Schue stopped mid-sentence, ignoring the dig at his teaching skills with an impassive expression. His attention was drawn back to the mismatched group when Kurt came striding into the cafeteria, head held high, alongside a smaller boy who reminded him of a puppy. The pair easily slid into the table in the corner, smiling at the greetings that were being tossed in their direction. Puck even playfully punched Kurt in the arm when the countertenor sat down next to the football player. Kurt was sitting with Puck? One of his oldest and most vicious tormentors? Although the animosity had died away when Puck joined Glee, but neither seemed close at all during meetings; and the tougher boy was acting civilly towards Kurt?

Maybe William was so stressed that he was hallucinating this entire hour. There were no other boys and Puck was happily amongst his teammates while Kurt gossiped with Mercedes and Tina about the latest relationship that cropped up within the New Directions and Rachel was sitting by herself pretending to ignore the various looks that were being sent in her direction.

That had to be it!

* * *

><p>When Kurt and Blaine finally completed the task of returning all of Kurt's books to his locker, where several mysterious gold star and football stickers had materialised overnight, they were discussing a special screening of the rocky horror picture show that was taking place later in the week and the disastrous turn of events that followed when the glee club tried to perform the play for the school musical. Blaine was awed to see how well Kurt coped with the looks and comments made towards him in the hallways, refusing to give in to the bullying that seemed to be a constant presence in his daily life at McKinely.<p>

Rachel was waving them over to their table in the back corner with a smirk; that had Blaine shaking his head. Kurt was leading the charge as they made their way over, sitting himself next to Puck, while Blaine pulled up a chair between Kurt and David. All eyes were turned to the pair.

"Gentlemen," Blaine cleared his throat, "And Rachel… I hope you haven't forgotten about us in the twenty minutes that we were absent."

"I think you have the wrong table because I've never seen you before," David commented innocently, looking up from his pizza.

Thad eyed the newest arrivals with wide brown eyes, nudging David lightly in the ribs. "Yeah, who are you guys again?"

Blaine and Kurt simultaneously scoffed, smirking at each other. "Well in that case," Blaine remarked, reaching into his sweater for something, "You both don't want what we picked up for you at the vending machine." Thad and David looked on curiously, licking their lips expectantly and making various protests. Both boys pulled out a bag of skittles and tossed them at the two boys with an amused smile as their faces lit up like small children on Christmas morning.

"Oh Blaine," David cried, quickly snatching up the treat before Wes or Rachel could get a hold of them. "You're the bestest friend I could ever ask for. I would never forget about you! I swear!"

Thad was similar, cradling the small bag of sweet, colourful spheres to his chest, "I think you're my favourite friend, Kurt. You're the best!"

"That's what we thought you'd say," Kurt said triumphantly, high fiving Blaine in the process. The smaller, curly haired boy knew his friends so well that he had predicted their arrival almost word for word and urged Kurt to stop at the vending machine for something to bribe them with before they made it to get lunch.

"We could _never_ forget about you guys," Puck rolled his eyes sarcastically with a grin, playfully nudging Kurt in the arm. Kurt only chuckled and accepted the salad that the boy was pushing towards him. Blaine hummed his thanks when Puck also handed him a few slices of pizza and some kind of burger that was literally dripping with grease and cheese.

Taking a bit of the limp lettuce that made up the majority of his salad with a grimace, Kurt shook his head. "Oh, Noah, you know you missed us. But you're too manly to admit that you can't stand leaving me or Blaine." He was still unaccustomed to calling Puck by his real first name, especially after years of knowing him solely as Puck; but Puck had insisted that as his and Rachel's new friend he'd earned the right to call him Noah. Which was considered a big deal in Puck's book and symbolised just how much he was trusting Kurt with his real self.

"You love us; right, Noah?" Blaine nodded, unconcerned with the edibility of the food that was placed in front of him, physically inhaling it like a human vacuum or bottomless pit. And no matter how gay Blaine acted he was alike all of the other boys when it came to food.

The only response they got from the boy was a half committed grunt and playful eye roll before Puck's attention was once again turned towards his pile of unappealing scorched onion rings. Shivering with distain, Puck instead decided to steal one of the strawberries that Rachel was quite happily nibbling away on, of which she had stolen then from a miffed looking Wes when Puck had run out of cookies.

"So," Kurt drawled, pushing the oily salad away from him and graciously accepting one of the strawberries to chew on from a smiling Rachel, "What did we miss?" He asked, looking at the group with knowing blue eyes. Both Kurt and Blaine had already guessed that they'd been talking about them; he may have only met them the day before but it wasn't hard to tell how their collective brains worked.

Everyone turned to stare at Kurt, blinking innocently and pretending like they had absolutely no idea what he was implying they had been doing. To counter, both Kurt and Blaine narrowed their eyes suspiciously and the former cautiously dropped his bag to his feet, snorting. Rachel was smiling sweetly staring intently at an interesting spot just above both boys' heads, brown eyes glittering with mischief; whereas the five boys were smiling like invertible angles that could do no wrong.

This was never a good sign for anyone involved.

Silence continued among the group, none of the boys wanted to spill what they had been discussing and none of them would. Kurt groaned and turned to look at Blaine, who was continuing to glare half-heartedly at his friends when he wasn't stuffing his food in his mouth. They'd make sure that the truth came out sooner or later.

David and Thad started up an arm-wrestling match. Although David clearly outweighed his lean friend, beads of sweat were pooling on his forehead from the strain Thad was exerting onto him. Thad was slowly pushing David's arm towards the table top, the tip of his tongue poked out from the corner of his lips in concentration. Thankfully Blaine had the good sense to move anything that would splatter should the pair hit it. Wes was perched on the edge of his chair, laughing at his friend's antics and ever so subtly inching closer to them if the high pitched crooning of metal scraping against the concrete group was any indication.

"Please, don't break anything today," Rachel commented flippantly, popping another strawberry into her mouth. Without looking away from the fight she swatted Kurt's hand away from the few remaining fruits when he made a grab for another one, much to the other boy's displeasure.

In a motion, Kurt leaned forward to get a better look at the intense match being waged between Thad and David. Blaine had taken to commentating the spectacle in a deep, gravelly voice like they would on TV and Wes was chanting enthusiastically for one of them to win, his opinion changing every time either Thad or David managed to snag the upper hand. Everyone was engaged in watching Thad and David brawl it out, except Puck, who tipped his chair away to balance on its two back legs and crossed his arms behind his head with a casual smirk. He gazed across the room and then winked at Rachel. She laughed.

"Guys, Schuster is staring at us. Can you please behave like normal people for a few minutes, like Noah?"

The rest of the table, par Thad and David as they refused to give in, mumbled embarrassed excuses, stealing glances at the Spanish teacher, and tried to assume more casual poses with various degrees of success.

Puck chuckled at his best friends embarrassment, "He's probably wondering why Rachel is surrounded by such a good looking bunch of guys."

"Is that Ms Carmichael, the chemistry teacher, sitting with him?" Wes asked, chewing on his plate of fries with a fond smile. "She's one of the only teachers I actually like in this place. Our higher level of learning is acknowledged in her class and she gives us some of the harder stuff to work with. Brings us chocolate sometimes, too."

Blaine hummed in agreement, wiping some of the tomato sauce from his burger off of his face and mouth with the back of his sleeve. "She didn't even get upset when we '_accidently'_ blew up that test tube and caught the bench on fire about two months ago."

"That explosion in the labs was you guys?" Kurt blanched, scattering his corn chips across the table top. "Why am I not all that surprised?"

"Because you're getting to know us," Puck commented, unruffled as he rocked back and forth on his chair. He stretched his arms languidly, looking pleased.

Through his ragged breathing and muscle straining David spoke next, in a raspy voice. "It was really all Rachel's fault. Had she not added the wrong chemicals while Blaine was supposed to be stirring the thing wouldn't have started to bubble over and explode." Rachel winced at his sarcastic tone.

"I still claim innocence," Rachel nodded to her friends defiantly, crossing her arms across her chest. "I studied the instructions very carefully. It was one of you guys who didn't set it up properly."

"Oh come on," Wes grinned manically. "Why would we do that?" He was artfully shredding a napkin that had the misfortune to rest on his tray and was throwing the left over pieces at the two boys wrestling like it were confetti.

Thad pushed David's arm further towards the table with a grin. "It was interesting though. I never thought I'd hear some of those jocks squeal like little girls when the bench caught a light."

"Kurt?" Rachel turned to face him, "Who do you believe?"

"You all sound responsible and I wouldn't put it past any of you to deliberately blow something up," his blue eyes flickered to the rest of the boys at the table when a distinct thump followed by a triumphant cry was heard.

Rachel followed his gaze with a smile. David was looking crestfallen, rubbing the muscles in his arm with a scowl while Thad pulled his beanie over is eyes, a smirk playing on his lips before dropping his head back on his chair to take a nap. Wes, Noah and David had once again engaged in a deep conversation about sports or a comic book, Rachel wasn't sure which, that had Blaine bobbing his head in affirmation as he listened.

Swapping seats with Puck, Rachel used the opportunity to fill Kurt in on her plans for the weekend shopping trip she had promised to take him on the previous afternoon. "Clear your entire Saturday schedule because we're going to be doing some intense shopping. Spenser and Trent will be meeting us there in the parking lot around eleven. We'll probably have a girl's sleepover with some of the Warbler's girlfriends at my place afterwards that you're very welcome to stay for. Is that okay with you?"

Kurt was just itching to be let loose on the mall with Rachel and her two male divas. If the stories he had been told about them were true it should be an interesting afternoon. "Fine by me," He grinned, placing the fork in his long forgotten salad in front of him. The last time he went shopping it was with Mercedes and despite her ignoring him for the majority of the time she kept buying clothes that had her living up to her nickname as the 'Technicoloured Zebra'. "But you may have to pick me up, Dad's already planned to take my car in for a service on Saturday morning, so I can't drive myself."

Rachel nodded in understanding, smiling wide. "I think I can do that. Can you be ready by ten thirty for me to come past?"

Kurt just grinned and took a sip of his water, eyeing Rachel. "I hope you're prepared to see what real shopping is Rachel Berry because I'm not planning on holding anything back."

"We share a similar mind set then," Rachel giggled, "But, Kurt, this shopping trip is all on me. Daddy told me to use his gold card and I intend to buy you enough clothes for an entirely new wardrobe, just you wait and see."

"I don't want you spending all your money on me, Rachel." Kurt protested, glaring at Rachel as if that would have her back down.

Unfortunately Kurt's gaze only caused Rachel to smirk in response to the challenge. "It's an unofficial rule; I get to spoil my friends however I want." She gleamed and ignored the looks being sent to her by the other boys on the table, who no doubt get nothing in return for their company. "But don't worry too much. When you see Trent and Spence in their natural habitat we'll find you enough bargains to keep you happy. It's ridiculously scary how good they are at finding amazing clothes for next to nothing, kind of like fashion bloodhounds."

"Careful, Rach," Blaine interjected with a laugh. "I don't think either of them would appreciate being compared to dogs. Remember the time Trent was compared to an angry bear?"

All of the boys and Rachel who had been there to witness the incident in the Warbler hall shuddered.

"Trent seemed nice when I met him yesterday," Kurt commented, blinking. He couldn't imagine what the smiley boy had done to make his friends react as they had. No one answered him, preferring to go back to their own conversations, so Kurt continued his line of thought with Rachel. "Are both he and Spenser… are they both gay?"

Rachel giggled and adopted a dreamy expression. "Oh yeah. They're pretty cute together, but I fear Trent brings out some of Spenser's more interesting quirks. Trent's corrupting one of the two Warblers who still retain some innocents; there's absolutely no hope for most of the other boys. I still may be able to save Spenser and Shaun. But I love them all nonetheless… You wouldn't think that they'd have anything in common, being so different in personality and everything but if I had to put my money on which of the couples will survive after the end of high school, it would definitely be them."

"You're telling me they're together," Kurt spluttered, narrowly avoiding tipping his water bottle onto his lap when Rachel nodded rather smugly. His brow furrowed deeper, "How many couples are there at Dalton?"

Very casually Rachel took a sip of the water sitting in front of her, smiling brightly. "Despite what you may think," she started, "Majority of the boys that go to Dalton are straight and have girlfriends. They just choose to act in a very 'homosexual' manner. Personally I know there are at least four gay couples in the school; but that doesn't include the populous of single gay boys."

Kurt nodded slowly, taking in all of the information Rachel had told him before he said, "Dalton does seem a lot more 'friendly' in ways McKinely never will."

"You do have to remember that there aren't any girls at Dalton. The boys need to get their physical touches from somewhere," Rachel winked and Kurt balked at her. Rachel continued with a smirk, nodding her head. "Although I suspect some of the Warblers play it up a little just because they like hugs."

"I met them for about an hour and that wouldn't surprise me all that much," Kurt chuckled, folding his arms on the table and leaning forward.

With that, Rachel turned back to Puck, who was about to attempt to put an odd looking powdery substance into her drink. Rachel suspected it was sherbet, but still felt the need to snap at the boy. Kurt was left with a fond smile on his face as he watched his new friends interact with one another, completely at ease with each other and with him.

David and Wes were engaged in a serious debate over the best tactics in the latest Call of Duty while Thad was still napping quite happily in his chair; in fact a steady stream of drool was dribbling down the base of his chin. Blaine was the least considerate and had decided that he would use all of his energies to pester Kurt and everyone else on the table.

"Quit poking me Blaine!" Kurt snapped when the curly headed boy had poked him in the side one too many times. Secretly, and he would never say out loud, he was enjoying the pestering presence of the soloist.

* * *

><p>Thirty minutes into their lunch hour all of the food that the boys had collected had been demolished and dumped on a single stack of plastic trays, somehow sitting right in front of Rachel. It was annoying enough for her to be short, but now she could hardly see over the top of the many wrappers and left overs. It was the boys' way of getting her to throw it all out for them. For five minutes she had been trying to ignore the mountain set in front of her, but she'd had enough. None of this food was even hers… besides the tops of the strawberries and apple core so neatly places to the side.<p>

Eventually, Rachel rose and excused herself to throw out the Mt Everest of trash that the boys had made, missing the shared look of triumph being passed around the group and the mass of high fives under the table. A glare had the boys silenced as she grabbed the tray with a growl, carrying it over to the nearest trash can. Unfortunately it was next to the table that Mercedes and Tina were occupying that afternoon.

Despite the uncomfortable glare Mercedes was directing at her, Rachel smiled and nodded politely at the girls. Mercedes made no gesture of acknowledgement other than the cold stares but Rachel smiled hesitantly when Tina smiled and waved back, albeit a little shyly. She harboured no hard feelings for the quiet Asian girl, who at the moment looked rather torn and a little shameful for Mercedes' glaring but ducked her head when the dark skinned diva turned her gaze on her. In fact, Rachel felt rather sorry that Tina was stuck with Mercedes when Quinn was in Head Bitch mode.

Rachel hadn't made it more than a few steps away from the trash can when she felt the looming presence of someone behind her. At first she flinched, fearing that it was one of the football players shadowing her with a slushing and cruel smile; but the moment she turned around, tense, all she felt was the intense gaze of the dark figure. It was the hooded boy who had been eavesdropping on the boys earlier that morning. Someone Rachel wasn't sure how to react to. Her shadow was tall and lanky, muscular but well built; kind of like a really big feline. He was leaning against an empty table, hands tucked into the pocket on his black hoodie. The hood covered most of his face in darkness, but a pair of twinkling pale green eyes were locked onto Rachel's brown ones, unwavering but soft. Even with the boy's apparent aloofness Rachel could very easily identify the outline of his strong, clean shaven jaw.

Slowly the figure pulled down his hood, shaking out his slightly unruly brown hair as he did so; it lacked its usual army of hairspray and gel to keep it styled back and rather sat flat against the boy's skull, flopping into his eyes. Sebastian Smythe looked down at Rachel with a mischievous smile on his face, "Hello Rachel. Long-time no-see, right?"

Rachel froze in complete shock, her jaw agape and feet rooted to the spot. Even though she could feel the eyes of Sebastian and the curious glances that Tina was sending them, Rachel couldn't bring herself to say a word. "Se… Sebastian…? Wh… Wha… What are… you… d… doing here…?" She squeaked out, stuttering.

"I've never known you to get tongue tied, Rach." The taller boy took a cautious step forward, closing the space between the pair. He moved as if approaching a wild animal because even through Rachel's shock, her gaze was heavy and almost hostile. "But if you must know, I came to say hello to an old friend."

"Maybe you should go and do that then," Rachel snapped, folding her arms protectively across her chest.

"I am," Sebastian said softly, smiling gently. "I've missed you, Rachel. As soon as I came back to town I've wanted to see you. I haven't even unpacked yet; I came straight here to find you, but you're pretty hard to track down. Did you know that?"

"You left me," Rachel accused, hurt. The hurt she felt when her fathers told her that Sebastian had disappeared was still in the back of her mind. She may be small but her attempt to fling a nearby empty bottle at Sebastian was convincing enough to have him flinch. However, he traitorous lips were curving in a pleased smile at the sight of the boy, no matter how hurt she felt about his sudden departure Sebastian was still her friend. "You didn't even say goodbye, Sebastian."

"I'm sorry about that," Sebastian murmured as Rachel's eyes started to water. Even though his arm hurt from where the bottle clipped him, he made no protest and accepted that she was probably mad at him.

Rachel shook her head, refusing to cry in front of the entire school. She wanted to stay strong. She really did. And when Sebastian took another step closer, all she wanted to do was wrap her arms around his waist and hug him like she used to before he moved away. But she was supposed to be mad at him still. "Sorry isn't good enough sometimes."

The pure anguish in Sebastian's green eyes almost made Rachel regret saying what she did. He hung his head, looking away from the tiny diva, whispering so low that Rachel almost missed it, "I didn't want to go."

"But sometimes…" Rachel sighed, her harsh glare died away and her face softened. There was no way she could stay mad at someone like Sebastian; they had gone through a lot during their friendship in middle school. He had become her best friend, just like the other boys who apparently still hadn't noticed her absence from the table. "Sometimes… hugs will make up for it."

Hope returned to Sebastian's eyes and his head shot up, a tentative smile crossing his face. He didn't want to make the first move in case he scared Rachel off again, but as soon as he looked her in the eyes the small girl leapt into his arms, wrapping her own tightly around his chest, burying her face in the soft material of his hoodie. They fit together like a puzzle, revelling in the familiarity of the other. "I _really_ am sorry for leaving. I'm _never_ going anywhere ever again," he said, stroking Rachel's head and dropping a soft kiss to her hairline.

"I know," Rachel sighed, breathing in Sebastian's familiar scent of mangos and pine nuts. The mango came from the brand of shampoo he used daily and the pine nut was the air freshener in his family's car that lingered on his clothing and skin. "And we went over this a long time ago; you need to tell me when you're moving. First you leave for Paris without telling any of us and now you just magically show up in the middle of McKinley's cafeteria?"

"I told you, you're hard to track down," Sebastian cut in, chuckling almost playfully.

Rachel ignored him and huffed. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming back to Lima? Or Noah? Or one of the others? We would've skipped school and spent the day waiting at the airport with a welcome home banner. We've missed having you around. _I_ missed having you around, Seb. Occasional phone calls and late night Skype sessions really didn't cut it; it wasn't the same as being able to see you whenever I wanted."

Sebastian looked down at Rachel, smiling at how much she did in fact care for him. "I wanted to surprise you…" He peeled Rachel off of his hoodie, took a step back and threw up his hands, with the decency to look a little sheepish. "So… Surprise!"

"I'll let you off the hook this one time, Seb." Rachel warned teasingly with a giggle, lightly smacking the tall boy in the arm. "But no more second chances. Do you understand?"

"Crystal clear," Sebastian saluted, his face serious.

"Why have you never told me the reason for your disappearing act without saying goodbye? You've told me all about why you had to move to Paris, you're dad's big promotion and all that; but never why you didn't tell us about it until our parents had to explain everything." Rachel turned serious, her gaze steadily watching every movement Sebastian made. The boy was already paling a little and his eyes were darting around the room, looking for a way out of explaining. "Every time I bring it up you go really quiet and try to change the subject. You thought I never noticed. Well, it's not going to work on me this time."

"I couldn't make myself say the word goodbye to you. I was afraid that if I did, you'd all forget about me. That my leaving would seem even more real… It was too hard." Was the quite reply that came. Sebastian was shaking now, so Rachel took his hand in her own and stroked his palm with her thumb to try and calm him.

"And?" Rachel calmly prompted him. "How well did that work out for you? We were never the same after, I mean we talked occasionally but it wasn't how we used to be."

"It sucked. Really, really sucked." Sebastian breathed, sucking in a deep breath to calm his emotions. When he felt Rachel squeeze his hand, he looked her straight in the eyes and dropped his shields. "I was young and stupid and immature. I thought that if I didn't say goodbye at the end of summer before we started high school… that… it would feel as if I'd never left at all. With was stupid to start with, right? I'm sorry that I did it and it hurt you and our friendship. I want to work on getting back to where we used to be."

Rachel laughed at him then, much to Sebastian's confusion. She explained, "Just you being here is fixing us. It won't be too hard going back to where we used to be."

The smile on Sebastian's face was only matched by Rachel herself. However, slowly his smile faced into a troubled expression as he continued. "I felt like crap for a very long time… but my dad… he... he forces me to move away with him. He still had custody over me after the divorce with mom. I had no choice but to let him take me away. Rachel, you have no idea how much I fought with him after we arrived in Paris. How much I cried and screamed and ranted. But…" He took a shuddering breath, his own green eyes were pooling with unshed tears, uncharacteristic with most guys. "He hit me, Rach, whenever I came home from school and practically begged him to let me come back to Ohio. I tried… I tried so hard. It only made things worse. When I ran away once, he caught me trying to buy plane tickets at the airport and only got more violent with me. Dad was… he was clever and only hit me in places no one would see, but I could barely move or breathe. There was just this wave of pain hanging over me. So I pretended to tolerate it there in France and things got a little better. I pretended to flirt with anyone interested; to seem like this smarmy guy that everyone either respected or feared. I was miserable because that wasn't me… you know that as well as I do. I'm sorry… So, so very sorry. Please don't be mad at me, Rachel."

"How can I be mad at you, Seb?" Rachel answered softly, surprised by the utter sincerity in his voice and the tears that were now freely tumbling from his eyes. Maximillion Smythe, Sebastian's father, had really messed him up in the three years that they had been gone. Reaching up, she gently brushed the tears from his cheek, cupping his face in her hands. He leant into her touch. The students around the pair had gone deathly silent, all watching curiously as the biggest diva in school interacted with a boy no-one had ever seen before. Mercedes and Tina had halted their conversation to downright stare at them with wide, curious eyes. The dark skinned girl was frowning, her gaze untrusting and suspicious. Tina, on the other hand, had a barely concealed smile on her face. The Asian girl was secretly pleased that there was someone that Rachel seemed to care deeply about other than focusing her affections towards Finn. But Rachel ignored them all, focused solely on the boy in front of her, who was trying desperately to hide his tears. "I forgave you for leaving when I hugged you. I was only a little disappointed… Hey! Seb, look at me. It's okay now. You're here in Lima… with me… and that's all that matters from now on."

Slowly, Sebastian nodded and met Rachel's gaze. His eyes were shiny with tears but he had stopped crying. Sucking in a breath he began rebuilding his mask of confidence. "I love you, Sunshine. When did you get so smart?"

Rachel shrugged coyly, once again wrapping her arms around him in a hug. "I've always been pretty smart." The old nickname he had for her caused the shock of his appearance to finally wear off; washing away all of the hurt and negativity that she may have been feeling for him. She was left happy, content to just be near her old friend again. They'd met on their first day of middle school and almost instantly they had gotten along, despite his shyness back then. And since that day, he'd been a part of her little group.

* * *

><p><em>It was the first day of middle school. Summer was over and previous students were returning with much reluctance, dawdling slowly down the hall in an attempt to avoid the start of the day. The sixth graders, entering the halls for the first time, were huddled together in groups of familiar faces, whispering between one another as they searched for their respective homeroom groups. <em>

_Rachel and the boys were no exception. They stuck together like glue as they navigated the corridors, everything was bigger now in comparison to the years before, and it was all a little overwhelming. Lima Hall was an imitation of what high school would be like, with much less of the stereotyping and cliques. The halls were lined with lockers and the painted doors lead to spacious class rooms. They were lucky; they would all be in the same homeroom and many of their classes this year._

_Room 16a, the room they would come to know as their homeroom for the next year and inside would be the people they would come to know as peers. Rachel was gripping tightly onto Wes' hand with her show face firmly in place, Thad, Noah and David looked indifferent about the whole situation and Blaine was fiddling with the green and white striped bow tie he was wearing that day. _

_All six of them were currently in that awkward stage of pre-pubescence. Gangly and not at all proportioned for their bodies. David's voice was the first to break, occasionally becoming high and squeaky much to his embarrassment. Noah was still as thin and gangly as ever, his wire frame glasses now a replica of Harry Potter and his hair thick, dark and extremely curly. Thad and Wes were still a mix of gangly and broad, taking it all with in their strides while Blaine, the most unfortunate, was yet to have another growth spurt. Rachel was by far the most graceful out of all of them, slender and slowly losing all of her baby fat; developing curves, something that her dads held great pleasure in announcing to the entire Temple a few months ago. _

_When they slowly opened the door there were only a few students already milling about inside. Most were boys hitting on the two other girls in the room. Rachel's boys, on the other hand, beckoned her over to the desks they had claimed and were now sitting on top of. There was about half an hour until the bell rang for the start of the day, but Hiram wanted to drop them all off a little early in the Berry's van to double check all of the transcripts were in order. _

_But Rachel's attention was drawn to a different boy, nestled in the very back of the room, tilting back in his chair and legs crossed on top of his desk. He was humming softly to the music playing from the mp3 in his ears, arms crossed and eyes half closed. He looked content in the corner by himself, but Rachel couldn't help but approach him._

_He looked to be tall, he would tower over David, the tallest in their group, and Rachel guessed that he'd only grow taller over the years. His face was soft - friendly – and well defined, framed by the chocolate brown hair that flopped down over his pale green eyes, plastered to his scalp in limp strands that looked incredibly soft to touch. He wore a red and white striped polo shirt and dark wash jeans, while his feet were covered in neon yellow sneakers. _

"_What're you listening too?" The strange boy's eyes snapped open completely to stare at the smiling girl standing in front of him. He could see over her shoulder a group of boys watching them interact carefully, almost possessively. _

_The boy considered Rachel's question before offering her an ear bud and smiled. "Walking on Sunshine."_

"_Hmm, I like that song, it's so… bright and happy." Rachel mused happily accepting the ear bud and positioning herself to lean around the low wooden desk so that she could hear the boy humming along. He had a very pretty voice if she listened close enough._

"_It's one of my favourites," The boy blushed profusely, ducking his head to hide the shades of red flooding his cheeks. It was kind of cute. These days most boys were too cool to talk about their feelings or sappy things like that, it was all about sports… and for some, girls. This boy seemed different, however. He was shy and timid but seemed incredibly sweet. "You remind me of this song, all bright and happy. Don't you think, Sunshine?"_

"_Sunshine?" Rachel asked._

_The boy nodded and grinned, patting Rachel's head happily, continuing to hum the song under his breath. "That's what I'm going to call you from now on."_

"_Oh, um… Okay. I think I understand."_

"_I'm sorry if I'm being to forward," the boy said softly, gently touching her shoulder with a shy smile. "My name is Sebastian."_

"_I'm Rachel and –" The brunette's eyes went extremely wide as Noah stalked up towards them, her friends trailing behind, when he punched the boy squarely in the face. Noah looked smug with himself until Rachel smacked the back of his head, shooting him a scolding glare as her new friend gently touched the tender area on his jaw with eyes threatening to spill with tears. "Noah! Why did you do that?"_

"_I thought he was hurting you, like Anthony used too." He confessed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, having the decency to at least look apologetic. The other boy looked up in surprise at the confession, his face softening from his angry expression, and fist unclenching. _

"_Were you bullied a lot?" He asked, sitting back down on the desk, eyes soft and patient as they waited for the girl or one of her friends to speak up. He couldn't say that he directly related to their source of bullying, but his father was the biggest bully he knew. Sometimes, when the man was mad enough, he'd be the one being punched._

_Rachel gave a sad nod but remained silent. Blaine, in fact, was the one to answer the question. "There was this one boy, Anthony, who seemed to pick on Rachel all the time. We've seen him doing it for years but the teachers could never stop him because there was no proof. He was smart like that."_

"_I'm sorry." The boy whispered earnestly, hanging his head before looking up at Noah. "I'm sorry if you thought I was hurting her. I meant no harm, I swear."_

_Noah bowed his head and nodded, chuckling. "I can see that now, and I'm really sorry for punching you in the face, man. Friends?" He held out his fist for the other boy to bump._

_The boy grinned and nodded, returning Noah's gesture. "Friends."_

_David nudged Wes in the ribs grinning, looking over the boy curiously, "He seems rather… endearing." All of David's friends groaned and shook their heads sadly, muttering under their breaths at the smug boy. Sebastian just looked on both amused and incredibly lost in the group's little world, grinning anyway because he'd just made an amazing group of new friends. _

* * *

><p>"Hey Seb?" Rachel asked, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen between the pair. Both of them were lost in memories that they'd forgotten where they were. A loud clattering from a nearby table brought Rachel back to reality.<p>

Sebastian wasn't so quick to step away from his memories, humming in acknowledgement; his green eyes staring off into the times of long ago. The noise level around the pair was steadily growing to its normal capacity when the rest of the students decided that Rachel and Sebastian were no longer all that interesting. Rachel was simple watching him patiently, smiling brightly. "What is it?" the taller boy mumbled, finally dragging his gaze back down to Rachel.

"Have you seen any of the others yet?" Rachel asked with a tilt of her head, resting on of her hands on her friend's arm.

"I told you," he answered, smiling brightly as Rachel's fingers gently trailed down the length of his arms and intertwining with his fingers. He gazed at her with an appreciative eye and sighing in content. "I came to find you as soon as I could." Sebastian laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "To be honest, the others kind of just… slipped my mind."

Shaking her head, Rachel tugged on his hand. The sudden movement shifted his balance slightly, causing him to stumble closer to Rachel. "You've got to go over and see them, Seb." Rachel instructed diligently, using her best authoritive tone. "They missed you just as much as I did."

That was how Sebastian found himself being towed through a maze of teenagers, towards his group of middle school friends, by a determined looking Rachel. He'd made the mistake of nodding in affirmation at Rachel because the next thing he knew was the grip on his hand turned vice like and Rachel was literally dragging him across the cafeteria, threating to dislodge his shoulder from its socket with the force.

The walk wasn't significantly long, but the sea of tables and students had Rachel twisting and turning in her path every so often. Every time Sebastian thought he saw a clear path towards his old friends, someone or something would find a way to block them and Rachel would be dragging him in a different direction, indifferent to his complaints. "Hey!" Rachel called out when they finally had a straight path, finally ending their adventure though the jungle like room, though Sebastian was sure his shoulder was about to fall off as a result. He'd forgotten just how strong Rachel could be when she was determined enough, and as it seemed, her strength had increased over the few years he hadn't been around.

From the table the heads of the three awake Warblers and Puck snapped up, the squabbling they had been engaged in only moments ago forgotten. They were staring at the approaching pair, jaws agape in pleased surprise. Nobody said a word. Kurt, however, was sitting off to the side picking at his unfinished salad with little gusto, watching the boys closely and swatting them away when they went to disturb Thad from his nap with some poorly thought out prank. He was shaking his head fondly at his newfound group of friends, wondering how on earth he found himself among them. He smiled cautiously at Rachel and the new boy trailing behind her.

Gently, Kurt shook the slumbering boy, who awoke with a start and blearily looked around in a daze. Thad's dark eyes landed on Sebastian, his mouth curving in a full smile. "Sebastian?" He asked, breaking the stupor that the other boys seemed to have fallen in, as they too voiced their greetings and questions.

Swiping several stray strands of hairs out of his eyes, Sebastian grinned almost hesitantly as he watched for his friend's reactions. "Hi guys," he said, acting as shy as he had upon their very first meeting. His dad bought his faux cocky and arrogant persona but the five boys staring up at him would see right through it instantly. He laughed nervously, "Uh… surprise?"

Blaine grinned brightly at the boy, flying out of his seat to pull him into a tight hug. "What are you doing here? I thought your dad still had another year on his work contract in France." Blaine babbled, stepping back when Sebastian had started turning blue.

"He got transferred back with a promotion," Sebastian said, straightening out his hoodie. Rachel, who still gripping his hand tightly, had stolen an extra chair for him to sit on. She slid into her own and encouraged Sebastian to do the same.

"Dude," Puck grinned, slapping the boy on the back playfully. "You don't look like you've changed at all since middle school."

Chuckling, instantly falling into old routines, Sebastian replied, "I could say the same for most of you guys," He smirked, "I mean, Blaine hasn't gotten any taller has he?"

All of the boys couldn't help but laugh at the look plastered on Blaine's face, even Kurt was having trouble keeping a straight face. Blaine, however, scowled deeply and countered, "At least I don't still look like a chipmunk.

"I'm very proud of my chipmunk-ness," Sebastian replied smugly. He scanned over the familiar friendly faces of his friends, studying them carefully for changes that occurred over the years, stopping to smile politely at Kurt before moving on to Puck. "For the record, Noah, the mo-hawk really isn't your style. Not at all like you, No. You're too much of a nerd to act like a real thug all the time."

Puck narrowed his eyes and mock glared, still smiling at the tall boy. "You know it's to keep my reputation as Puck up." His voice lowered and Puck ducked his head, "It's the only way I can protect Rachel from the other jocks in the school. If I can keep them scared of me, then they'll back off if I tell them too…" Suddenly Puck grinned, his trademark smirk returning, "And besides, mo-hawks are badass!"

Sebastian rolled his eyes playfully, sighing. "Of course they are." His attention turned away from Puck, though he was dutifully watching him through the corner of his eye, before addressing Rachel. "I know Wes and Thad didn't kill each other, the proof is sitting at the table, but how bad were the fights while I was gone, Sunshine?"

The two offenders looked marginally offended, separated between David at the moment and Rachel shook her head, laughing slightly. "Just short of World War Three sometimes; I mean there was this one time when Tha-"

"I thought we agreed never to speak of that day," Thad snapped, tossing a stray napkin at Rachel's head, childishly poking his tongue out in her direction.

Rachel shook her head, pouting slightly but continued, mock glaring at Thad for interrupting her story. "Anyway, Davie and I tried to keep them in line whenever we could. Yet, if anyone knows how to push their buttons, it's the other." She smirked, glancing at Wes, who was distracted by a conversation with Kurt and Puck. "We learnt that if we threatened Sarah, that's Wes' gavel if you're wondering, the fight would stop instantly; he'd become more concerned for the stupid thing than fighting with Thad."

"Seriously, Wes?" Sebastian blanched, the oriental boy looking up, hearing his name. "You named your gavel. It's sad enough that you actually own one…"

Wes scowled deeply and protested, beating his chest with pride. "Gavels are cool!"

"No, that's bowties," grinned Blaine.

"Or fezzes," interrupted David.

Sebastian laughed, rocking back on the haunches of his chair, crossing his arms with a serious expression. "I didn't think you could be more of a nerd than Noah or Blaine. We all know how bad they are, even though they think no-one's paying them too much attention." It was the pair's turn to scowl and Kurt laughed, enjoying the misfortune of his new friends. "But clearly I was wrong."

"Oi," Puck complained, it was his turn to toss a left over plastic fork at Sebastian's head. "We're not that bad! Just because you don't like comic books, Sebby, doesn't mean that we can't. It's perfectly normal for teenage guys to like superheros and comic books."

Thad snorted and rolled his eyes, "Oh yeah, they're normal. I'm not so sure about the superhero club you two started at Dalton is normal, though."

Never ones to fully constrain themselves, Wes and David were set of in a bout of hysterical laughter once more. Between heavy breaths and near convulsions, David wheezed, "What was it you called your selves again?"

"The Puck-a-nator?" Wes replied, doubled over and clutching the table to keep himself upright. "No wait! It's the Puckster!"

"And Blaine… You're Night Bird or something…" David coughed, laughing harder. Puck, sitting on David's other side not so casually pushed the back of the chair, tipping it over so that David was knocked to the ground with an oomph. It made no different to the boy, who only proceeded to laugh even harder.

Thad saw sense to interrupt before a full argument could break out; the beginnings of one could be seen bubbling under Puck and Blaine's skin as they glared at the incapacitated duo. The Spanish boy repositioned his beanie on his head and turned his questioning gaze to Sebastian, interrupting whatever insult was about to fly out of Blaine's mouth. "So Sebastian, now that you're back and all have you thought about which high school you're going to? I mean Rachel and Noah are here at McKinely and the rest of us are at Dalton."

"I highly doubt Dad would pay for Dalton's tuition at the moment; we're not exactly on speaking terms – haven't been since we arrived back in Ohio." Sebastian blinked, effectively dragging his eyes and mind away from the little spat the other boys were having. The thought of high school hadn't crossed his mind since finding Rachel, and knowing his friends went to two different schools would let him choose his preferred campus. Sure, Dalton was the obviously better option, but Rachel was tempting enough for him to answer with, "The house is closer to McKinely for the moment so I'll probably stay here with Noah and our resident Ray of Sunshine. If they'll take me, of course…?"

Rachel grinned and brightened considerably, where Puck just turned from where he was glaring at Wes to shrug, his hazel eyes expressing his happiness. The Warblers looked a little disheartened to not have Sebastian join their ranks officially, but reasoned that there would always be a place for him and that they would have yet another person for them to come and visit at McKinely, making the school only marginally more tolerable. Kurt looked indifferent, if not a little pleased at the prospect of having another friend in the New Directions, and rather helped David back onto his chair.

"I guess it all makes sense," nodded Thad, grinning. "So I take it you'll be joining the New Directions then?"

"The Nude Erections?" Sebastian asked, coughing in surprise. "What the hell is that?"

"No," Rachel corrected, "The New _Directions_. It's the glee club here."

"I guess," Sebastian shrugged after a momentary pause to consider joining the club.

Puck clapped Sebastian's shoulder, smirking. "Just watch out, okay, man? The New Directions can be a little… notorious. Most of the school hates us to begin with, but the drama goes on in the choir room is almost ridiculous. If I didn't enjoy myself so much I'd be out of there so fast. It's almost like our own personal soap opera."

"Oh goodie…"

Just like that, the dynamics of the table shifted. There was a comfortable atmosphere surrounding them as the boys absorbed Sebastian into their fold, much like they had done for Kurt only the day prior. David and Thad were attempting to catch him up on what had been happening in their daily lives since their last phone call, but given the drama and chaos that ruled over their lives, it was a challenging task. Blaine, Puck and Kurt turned to their own conversation, the same going for Wes and Rachel.

"Sebastian," Rachel brought the taller boy's attention away from his conversation with David. He turned to look at the girl curiously, a bright smile on his face. "This is Kurt Hummel. He's in glee club with Noah and I, but we've recently adopted him." She then paused and turned to Kurt with a similar bright smile, "Kurt, meet Sebastian Smythe. He's the friend I was telling you about earlier, although, he's clearly not in France anymore. We went to middle school together before his dad was transferred overseas for his work."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Kurt smiled, extending a pale hand for the other boy to shake.

Accepting the gesture, Sebastian's firm grip took Kurt's hand without so much as a second thought and the boys shook. "Likewise. I think Sunshine's mentioned you in an occasional rant, but nevertheless I look forward to getting to know you a little better, Kurt."

Kurt nodded firmly, his smile firmly in place. "Are you as crazy as these guys are?" He asked, taking in the full stature of Sebastian, who only laughed.

"I guess that'll be up for you to decide," the taller brunette replied.

"They at least seem happy to see you."

Sebastian's smile grew softer as he looked out at the crazies inhabiting their table. "I'm happy to see them again. You have no idea how hard it is to be away from them once they've adopted you. It's like… like you're missing this huge part of your life, and you don't realise how far they really worm into your life until you have to leave."

Kurt hummed in acknowledgement, following Sebastian's gaze. He was content to quietly watch their friends act like crazy people. "I've only seen this side of Rachel and Noah since yesterday, and I've known them for two years now." Kurt admitted, rubbing his forearm awkwardly. "But, I can tell that if they ever go back to how they used to act I wouldn't know how to react. They're fun to have around."

"You're telling me," Sebastian replied fondly, shuffling his chair closer to Kurt's so they could talk a little more privately. "I mean, I remember this one time in seventh grade when we all got in trouble because Wes and David had this brilliant idea to sneak off during a fire drill. Rachel turned us down the wrong hallway and we were lost for an hour."

The story sounded so much like the group that Kurt laughed, in return recounting some of his New Direction stories. The pair spent the rest of the lunch hour swapping stories before Sebastian mentioned the fashion over in Paris, Kurt reacting by regaling him with his knowledge of Parisian designers. Ultimately they ended up discussing Blaine, The Warblers and the McKinely pair.

When the bell did finally ring, all the other students were beginning to file out of the cafeteria, Sebastian lent over to Kurt, pleased to have made a new friend so easily. "This is going to be the start of a wonderful friendship, I can feel it," he admitted and Kurt nodded with a smirk as they both rose from their chairs in order to follow the others to other classes.

_"Little did I know that Sebastian was onto something back then. Even in the early days of this tale I knew that his words about Rachel and the others were so very true. Knowing that, even now, we're still the best of friends makes me incredibly happy. And that happiness would only increase over the next day as I was introduced to the insanity that was known only as the Warblers."_


	5. Sneak Peek

**I'm not sure when I'll be done with the re write of the next chapter as I'm working on a few side projects and going in to get my wisdom teeth removed, so I thought you guys deserved a sneak peek at one of the brand new scenes from the next chapter :D**

**This is a real changing point to the story for obvious reasons, but I kind of like the change of direction for Sebastian, (I feel it gives him a little more background rather then never meeting his father or even mentioning his mother), but that's just my opinion.**

**Sneak Peek - Homecoming**

* * *

><p>The bell rang. Footsteps approached. The door inched open slowly.<p>

"Sebastian?" asked the small voice of a boy, around the age of eleven, peeking out from the cracked door with inquisitive pale green eyes. He was gazing up at the figure shifting nervously on the front porch, clasping and unclasping pale, clammy hands. He had to clench his hands to keep them from shaking. "What are you doing here?"

The figure nodded slightly, barely noticeable at all, and gave a hesitant smile at the small boy. Sebastian held himself rigid, waiting for the boy to say something more, anything. "Yeah, it's me." He murmured, wincing at how timid and uncomfortable he sounded. This building used to be familiar to him; it used to be his home. Paris had changed him.

The little boy continued to blink up at his taller form, opening the door a little for a better look.

"Magnus? Who are you talking too?" A slightly older, deeper voice asked, padding up behind the little boy who hadn't moved from where he simply watched Sebastian. Walker Sinclair frowned, ruffling the boy's slightly fairer, shaggy hair. "Seb? We didn't know you were back from Paris, does Dad know –" He paused when Sebastian straightened, overlooking the form of the shaking boy on the porch. One of his eyes was swollen shut, a brilliant ring of purple emphasizing the bruise, his nose was also taking on the purple hue. There was a split in his lower lip and he seemed to be favouring his left side heavily. "…What happened to you?"

Sebastian's eyes flickered down to his feet, refusing to meet either pair of familiar green eyes that were trained intently on him. Walker, seeing this action, gently shook the youngest boy's shoulder, who turned to look up at his older brother. "Go and tell Mom that we have company, then go and find a medical kit, okay?"

Casting one last look at the door way and the two boys standing there, Magnus disappeared into the house.

"Tell me, Sebastian, what happened to you?" Walker balked, grabbing the younger boy's arm when it looked like he was about to dart away.

"Let go," Sebastian pleaded, for the first time looking up through his good eye, wincing slightly once more. "I… shouldn't… shouldn't have come… I'm sorry… I'll… I'll just go…" he stuttered, shifting more of his weight on the uninjured leg. Max had found out about his little trip today and was less than pleased. Walking in just as Sebastian was heading to his car, demanding that his son tell him where he was going with a duffle bag slung casually over a shoulder. Through his anger the usual care he had to cover all of the bruises was lacking.

"Wait, slow down," Walker instructed calmly, keeping his firm grip on Sebastian's arm. The boy was still shaking violently and his eyes were turning glossy with unshed tears. "You don't have to leave, Seb. Come in and see Mom, at least." He ushered the injured teenager off of the porch and into the clean foyer, careful to help him hobble around on his left leg.

Unable to resist the strength that the twenty-one year old had over him at the moment, Sebastian relented and limped inside the house, sweating slightly from the nerves that kept creeping up on him. "Why are you doing this?" was the response Sebastian gave, still refusing to meet Walker's eyes.

"Because you're my little brother, Seb," Walker confident replied. He led Sebastian into one of the sitting rooms, helping him down onto the leather couch before sitting himself opposite. His gaze was gentle and riddled with concern for the younger boy. "And I love you."

Sebastian was sitting ramrod straight, eyes downcast at his lap. "That's not what you told me when I was packing. Last time… last time I was here." He mumbled under his breath, picking at the hem of his striped shirt with trembling fingers.

Walker blinked up at his younger brother in surprise, in complete shock that Sebastian was so nervous because of that stupid conversation. He remembered that day as clear as yesterday and he regretted how stupid he had been at the time. Swiftly moving from his seat opposite Sebastian, Walker settled next to his brother, wrapping an arm around his shoulders so that the younger boy would have to look at him. He was as cold as ice and shaking even more violently under the touch. "Sebastian, listen to me!"

"You told me that if I walked out that door with Dad that I could never come back!" Sebastian replied, struggling to free himself from his brother's grip to little avail. Walker was stronger that he was, being both taller and broader.

"It was never you're fault."

"…What?" The younger boy stopped struggling and for the first time looked up at the identical pair of green eyes trained on his every move.

"It was never you're fault, understand." Walker said forcefully, looking gently down at his younger brother. His grip on Sebastian's shoulders loosened slightly when he finally looked up, Sebastian had relaxed a little and stopped shaking so viciously. "Look, I was stupid and hurt. I was upset that Dad was taking you away from us. I was mad that I'd have to help Mom look after Magnus by myself and go through my senior year of school. I didn't realise that you gave in to his request to stop him from going after Magnus; you put yourself in the way of his wrath to spare him. But, I also realize now that you never had a choice whether or not you went with that man and I'm sorry that I ever said any of that stuff to you."

Before Sebastian could open his mouth to reply Magnus came bustling back into the room, breaking the atmosphere the two older boys had created, gripping tightly to an overstuffed medical kit. Behind him was a trail of band-aid plasters that had fallen from the half open box hanging out the side of the kit, the little boy didn't seem to notice and hastily shoved it into the hands of Walker. "I had to climb on top of the washing machine to get it," the youngest boy explained, sporting a toothy smile at both of his brothers and a small scrape on his elbow that was hastily covered in a plaster.

"Thanks, Mag," smiled Walker, opening the medical kit to search for the necessary supplies that he would need. He then turned to the eleven year old and frowned slightly, "Did you tell Mom that you were taking it this time?"

Magnus smiled innocently and brushed some of his dark blonde, far-too-long hair out of his eyes and shrugged. He pulled over a stool to sit on, positioning himself not far from the couch that the two older boys were occupying.

Sighing, Walker shook his head and got to work on Sebastian's lip first, cleaning up the dried blood around it. One eye, however, was kept on the young boy. "You know how she feels about you 'borrowing' the medical kit. Does she even know Sebastian is here?"

Sebastian chuckled slightly, much to the disapproval of Walker, who was trying to keep his head still by cradling the back of it with one of his hands. Magnus shook his head and answered, "She was on the phone."

"Perfect," muttered Walker, rolling his eyes. "Mom's going to kill us."

The boys sat silently as Walker carefully worked around Sebastian's swollen eye, cleaning up the blood and sticking bits of medical tape over various little cuts across his temple. "Sebastian, what did _he_ hit you with?" he asked Sebastian suddenly, pulling a tiny shard of glass out of a cut over the younger boy's eyebrow. His voice was venomous with rage at the man they all called father. Magnus gasped and looked like he wanted to cry a little, turning away to keep his strong face.

Looking away, Sebastian shifted uncomfortably. He could feel the gaze of both brothers on him, looking on in anger and mild terror. Eventually he answered in a voice so low that Walker almost couldn't hear it, "A bottle… he threw a… a bottle at my head and it shattered…" His voice was choked and stuttering.

"I'll kill him," spat Walker, red faced with anger. Sebastian paled at the harshness of the older boy's tone, shrinking back slightly. Walker saw the involuntary action and immediately calmed down; reminding himself that Sebastian was probably used to being hit when their father was angry. He mumbled an apology and got back to work, "Sorry, man."

Sebastian touched his brother's arm gently as he worked on repairing the damage Maximillion Smythe had caused to his body. "I can't help it sometimes." He replied, looking down again in embarrassment.

Silence once again fell over the three boys. Magnus was patiently watching while Walker had moved onto Sebastian's torso and right leg, which was heavily bruised after he crashed (was thrown) into the front steps. The oldest boy was crouched on the floor in front of Sebastian, his back to Magnus, concentrating to avoid touching the bruises and causing Sebastian to hiss in pain.

"Magnus, why is there a trail of medical supplies leading from my laundry?" came the condescending voice of Vivienne Sinclair, formally known as Vivienne Smythe. The bottom of her heels clicked on the wooden floorboards in the hallway, gradually growing louder as she drew nearer. "I've told you hundreds of times that you can't play with the medical kit. What if there's an emergency?"

"I'm not playing, Mom," Magnus called out, having not moved from the chair he was sitting in, focused on watching Walker fuss over Sebastian's injuries. Occasionally he would hand his oldest brother something that he needed or would venture a little closer for a better view of the scene. "There really was an emergency!"

In the doorway the figure of an elegant woman in her early forties appeared, her honey blonde hair was pulled back neatly into a pony tail. Her purple blouse was tucked into a black skirt that swirled around her knees, although her arms were crossed sternly as she gazed at her youngest son, oblivious to the others in the room. "What's going on in – Sebastian?" Hazel eyes flickered to the oldest two boys in shock. Walker didn't once look up from his bandaging of Sebastian's leg but made a non-committal grunt in acknowledgement of his mother.

Sebastian, on the other hand, slowly looked up at the woman, unsure of what he was meant to do. "Hi, Mom…" he murmured hesitantly.

"_He_ hit him, Mom." Snarled Walker furiously, he had finally tucked in the end of the bandage and sat back on his haunches to look at his mother.

"And threw a glass bottle at his head," supplied Magnus with a frown, pushing his stool right up against the couch to sit on Sebastian's other side. He was gripping his brother's hand tightly, as though, if he let go he'd once again disappear.

Vivienne looked from her three sons, eyes welling up with tears as she registered the extensive injuries that Sebastian was sporting, a pale, manicured hand covering her mouth in shock. "My baby boy, what did he do to you?"

"You can't let him go back there, mom," Walker frowned, "I don't care if legally he has custody of Sebastian, he's abusing him and that's not okay. It's because of men like Dad that I want to finish law school and become the best damn lawyer I can," he paused and looked up at Sebastian, his face steely, "but if I can't even help Sebby, how am I going to help other kids going through the same thing?"

"You're going to be the best lawyer in the world, Walker," Magnus protested,

"Max is just a bastard, but you're right," Vivienne agreed, slowly venturing in the room, her eyes never once leaving Sebastian, who was watching her in turn. "I can't in good conscious let my baby go back to that monster, Sebastian. We're going to fight to keep you safe, okay?" Sebastian nodded and for the first time since he entered the house he truly smiled, releasing his breath fully and relaxed; he knew he was going to be okay. Vivienne opened her arms and swept the tall, lanky teenager into her arms, cradling him close to her chest like she used to do when he was younger. The tears finally fell for both of them. "You're finally home, Seb, its safe now. I promise. We won't let your father come anywhere near you, custody or not. I knew I should never have let him take you away when I still had the chance. I'm sorry, baby, so, so sorry." She murmured, stroking his thick brown hair reassuringly, hoping that it was enough to keep all of his fears away.

Frozen in surprise, Sebastian could only bury his face in his mother's hair and cry, returning the hug tightly. "I know, Mom," he whispered, and for just a moment he believed that everything would be alright.


	6. Announcement

**For anyone expecting this to be an actual update, I'm sorry to disappoint you.**

**I won't be updating this story, meaning I won't be finishing it. The number of words required for the re-writes is too stressful during my last year of high school. To be honest, I started pulling away from the glee fandom for a while because I was so busy, but in light of Cory's passing I've found myself rediscovering everything I loved about the show in the first place. **

**But I come bearing an offering. **

**I'm not abandoning this story, in fact it is in the process of a complete 'make over'. **

**If you look on my profile you'll now see a story called _Footprints in the Sand_. This is the updated, re-vamped version of Neverland. Now, it won't be the same or even remotely similar to the way Neverland has been written. Some aspects, like the characters and ideas, will be the same but the perspective and even some of the plot has been drastically changed. **

**The reason for all of this is because I've grown into a new writing style that I feel more confident about, rather than always falling into old habits when I became tired or lazy. I've improved and I wanted to make my writing a little more sophisticated and more enjoyable for those who read it. **

**If you don't want to read the new story, I'll completely understand and I thank you for staying with me throughout the journey of Neverland. But if you do want to see what I'm offering, please be patient and understand that to get it out a little quicker I've limited myself to a word limit between 1,000 and 4,000 words per chapter, rather than the 20,000 + monsters of the past. **

**Thankyou for taking the time to read this.**

**xx Rodgie**


End file.
